Sondola for Startups Program Terms

Version 1. Effective October 25, 2026.

About the "In short" summaries. Sections marked In short are plain-English summaries. They are not part of these terms and they do not change them. Where a summary and a section differ, the section governs.

In short. If your startup qualifies, you can use the Sondola Startup plan without charge, 12 months at a time. You confirm each year that you still qualify. If you outgrow the Program, you keep it free until the end of your current term, we tell you at least 90 days before anything changes, and your first 12 paid months are at half the list price. We decide who joins, we may check what you tell us against public sources, and we never use your connected data to do it.

1. What these terms are

1.1 These Program Terms add to the Sondola Terms of Service at https://sondola.com/legal/terms (the "Terms") for workspaces accepted into Sondola for Startups (the "Program"). Words defined in the Terms have the same meaning here.

1.2 The Program is offered by Sondola Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Sondola", "we", "us").

1.3 If these Program Terms and the Terms conflict on anything about the Program, these Program Terms govern. On everything else the Terms govern. The Data Processing Addendum continues to govern personal data in Customer Data.

1.4 You accept these Program Terms when you submit an application. They bind you once we accept it.

2. Who can apply

2.1 Eligibility. A company is eligible (an "Eligible Company") if, on the date it applies and on each Renewal Date:

(a) its Total Raised is less than US$5,000,000

(b) its Headcount is fewer than 50

(c) it is a business, organised and operating for profit, and is not a government body, a public company, or a subsidiary of a company that would not itself be an Eligible Company

(d) it is not located in, organised in or controlled from a country or region subject to comprehensive United States sanctions, and is not on a United States restricted-party list

(e) it has not previously had Program participation ended under §6.4

Bootstrapped companies with no outside funding are eligible.

2.2 Total Raised means the total of all amounts the company and its Affiliates have received, or are entitled to receive under signed agreements even if not yet funded, from the sale or issue of:

(a) shares, units or other equity of any class

(b) SAFEs and other simple agreements for future equity

(c) convertible notes and other debt that converts into, or comes with rights to, equity

(d) warrants, options or other rights to acquire equity, to the extent paid for

Total Raised does not include revenue from customers, government or foundation grants, prize money, bank loans or lines of credit, revenue-based financing, or venture debt that carries no right to equity other than a customary warrant. It is measured in US dollars at the exchange rate on the date of each funding, without deducting fees or amounts spent. A predecessor company's funding counts if its business was transferred to the applicant.

2.3 Headcount means the number of individuals, across the company and its Affiliates, who are:

(a) employees, full time or part time, each counted as one person, or

(b) individual contractors or freelancers, or staff provided by an agency, who on average over the previous 3 months worked 20 hours a week or more for the company or its Affiliates, each counted as one person

Founders count. Non-employee board members, advisers who work fewer than 20 hours a week, and investors do not.

2.4 Affiliate means any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the company, where control means owning more than 50 percent of the voting interests or having the power to direct its management. Splitting a business into several companies to stay under the limits does not make each one eligible.

3. Applying and acceptance

3.1 How to apply. An administrator of your workspace applies in the Service and certifies that the company is an Eligible Company. The person certifying confirms that they are authorised to do so for the company.

3.2 Our decision. We decide in our sole discretion whether to accept an application, including for reasons not listed in §2, such as capacity, fraud prevention or fit with the Program. We do not have to give reasons. Meeting §2 does not by itself entitle a company to join.

3.3 One workspace. Acceptance covers one workspace for the company and its Affiliates.

3.4 Program Term. Your first Program Term starts on the day we accept you and lasts 12 months. Each later Program Term starts on the day the previous one ends (the "Renewal Date") and lasts 12 months.

4. What is included

4.1 The Startup plan. During each Program Term your workspace gets the Sondola Startup plan, as described on our pricing page from time to time, without charge.

4.2 Same plan as paying customers. We will not give Program workspaces fewer Startup plan features than paying Startup plan customers, except that Program workspaces have no service levels and standard support only (§7). Features that belong to other plans, add-ons and Beta Features are not included unless we say so.

4.3 AI on your own key. Where an AI feature runs on your own AI provider key, it runs under your agreement with that provider and §8 of the Terms applies. Any charges from your AI provider are yours.

4.4 Changes to the Startup plan. The Startup plan may change for all customers on it, under the Terms. Program workspaces receive those changes like everyone else.

4.5 No cash value. Program benefits have no cash value, cannot be exchanged for money or credit, cannot be combined with any other discount or offer unless we agree in writing, and are available to a company and its Affiliates for one workspace at a time.

4.6 Not transferable. Program benefits are personal to the accepted company. They may not be sold, transferred or assigned, except to a successor in a merger or acquisition of the company that is itself an Eligible Company. If the successor is not an Eligible Company, §5.3 (graduation) applies from the date of the transaction.

5. Renewal and graduation

In short. Confirm each year that you still qualify. When you outgrow the Program, your free use runs to the end of your term, with at least 90 days' notice, and your first 12 paid months are at half the list price if you subscribe within 60 days.

5.1 Renewing. Before each Renewal Date we will ask your administrator, by email and in the Service, to confirm that the company is still an Eligible Company. Confirming renews the Program Term for 12 months. There is no fixed limit on the number of renewals, but each renewal is only for the next 12 months, and nothing in these Program Terms promises free use beyond the Program Term you are in.

5.2 If you do not confirm. If you have not confirmed by the Renewal Date, we will remind you, and you may still confirm within 60 days after it. During those 60 days your workspace keeps working. If you do not confirm within that time, your Program participation ends at the end of the 60 days, and the Terms apply to your workspace as to any other workspace. You may reapply later.

5.3 Graduation. Your company graduates when it stops being an Eligible Company, for example when Total Raised reaches US$5,000,000 or Headcount reaches 50. Please tell us within 30 days at legal@sondola.com or in the Service. When a company graduates:

(a) Free to the end of the term. Your workspace stays on the Startup plan without charge until the end of the Program Term you are in.

(b) At least 90 days' notice. We will give you at least 90 days' written notice before your free use ends. If fewer than 90 days remain in your Program Term when you tell us or when we learn of the change, your free use continues until 90 days after our notice.

(c) Half the list price for the first 12 paid months. If you choose a paid Startup plan subscription starting within 60 days after your free use ends, you pay 50 percent of the Startup plan list price in effect at that time for the first 12 months of that subscription, whether you choose yearly or monthly billing. After those 12 months, the list price then in effect applies.

(d) No automatic charge. We will not charge you unless you choose a paid plan and give us a payment method. If you do not choose one, the Terms decide what happens to your workspace, including the 30-day export window before any closure.

5.4 Late notice of graduation. If you did not tell us within 30 days that the company graduated, we may treat your free use as ending at the end of your current Program Term, or 90 days after we notify you, whichever is later. §5.3(c) still applies.

6. Checking eligibility, and ending participation for false information

6.1 Self-certification. You are responsible for the accuracy of every certification you give. Keep the records that support it.

6.2 Our right to check. We may check eligibility at any time, including by:

(a) asking you for reasonable evidence, such as a written statement from an officer, a capitalisation summary showing Total Raised, or a headcount summary. We will keep it confidential and use it only to decide eligibility.

(b) reviewing public information, such as press coverage, company registries, SEC Form D filings, public funding databases and your company's own website.

6.3 We never use your connected data. We will not use Customer Data, including anything read from your Connected Sources, to check or decide eligibility. Our role for that data remains that of your processor under the Terms and the Data Processing Addendum.

6.4 Knowingly false information. If we believe that an application or certification was knowingly false in a way that matters to eligibility, we will give you notice and 14 days to respond. If, after considering any response, we still reasonably believe it was knowingly false, we may:

(a) end your Program participation, with effect from the date we choose, which may be immediately after that response period, and

(b) require you to pay the Startup plan list price for the period during which the company was not an Eligible Company, up to a maximum of 12 months.

We may also refuse future applications from the company and its Affiliates. If participation ends under this section, §5.3 does not apply, and the Terms decide what happens to your workspace, including your 30-day export window.

6.5 Evidence not provided. If you do not give us evidence we reasonably request under §6.2(a) within 30 days, we may end your Program participation after giving you notice and 14 days to respond. §6.4(b) does not apply unless the information was also knowingly false.

6.6 Honest mistakes. If an error was honest, we will treat the company as graduating under §5.3 from the date you tell us or we find out, rather than under §6.4.

7. No service levels, support and liability

7.1 No service levels. Program workspaces have no uptime commitment, no service credits and no response-time commitment, even if paying customers on the same plan have them.

7.2 Support. Program workspaces receive our standard support by email and in the Service, as we offer it from time to time.

7.3 Free Use rules apply. Program use is Free Use under the Terms. The disclaimers in §16 of the Terms apply. Our warranty in §16.1 of the Terms and our indemnity in §17.1 of the Terms do not.

7.4 Liability cap. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE PROGRAM OR ANY PROGRAM WORKSPACE, ON ANY THEORY, IS LIMITED TO US$100. The rest of §18 of the Terms, including the exclusion of indirect damages and the one-year time limit, applies.

8. Publicity

8.1 We will not say publicly that your company takes part in the Program, or use your name, logo or any quote in connection with the Program, without your prior written consent. Email is enough, and you may withdraw consent for future use at any time.

8.2 You may say that you use Sondola or take part in the Program. Please do not suggest that we endorse your company or your figures.

9. Changes to the Program and ending it

9.1 New applicants. We may change the Program, its eligibility rules or these Program Terms for new applications, pause applications, or stop accepting them, at any time.

9.2 Existing participants. A change to these Program Terms that reduces your benefits takes effect for you on your next Renewal Date, and we will give you at least 30 days' notice. A change that does not reduce your benefits, or that the law or a provider requires, takes effect when we post it.

9.3 If we end the Program. If we end the Program for existing participants, we will:

(a) honour your current Program Term to its end

(b) give you at least 90 days' written notice before your free use ends, extending your free use if fewer than 90 days remain in your term

(c) offer you the price for the first 12 paid months in §5.3(c), as if you had graduated

9.4 If we discontinue the Service. If we discontinue the Service itself, the discontinuation provisions of the Terms apply instead of §9.3, including at least 60 days' notice and the export window.

9.5 Inactivity. If a Program workspace has had no sign-in and no active Connected Source for 90 days, we may end its Program participation after at least 14 days' notice to the administrator. You may reapply when you are ready to use it.

10. Ending participation yourself

You may leave the Program at any time by closing your workspace or choosing a paid plan. Leaving does not entitle you to any payment or credit.

11. Your data

Program workspaces have the same privacy and security commitments as paying workspaces, including §9 of the Terms ("What we never do"), the Data Processing Addendum and the Privacy Policy. We process your application details as the Privacy Policy describes.

12. General

12.1 These Program Terms are part of your agreement with us under the Terms, including §20 (Disputes) and §22 (General).

12.2 Questions about the Program: legal@sondola.com.