Meta has kicked off a fresh initiative to help startups integrate its Llama artificial intelligence technology. The newly introduced Llama for Startups program creates an onramp for early stage companies to collaborate with Meta’s AI team while potentially accessing financial support.
Eligible startups in the United States, those with under ten million dollars in funding and a developer on staff, can apply for this program until the end of May. Meta is offering up to six thousand dollars each month for six months to help reduce costs associated with developing sophisticated AI features.
Meta’s Startup Push Amid Growing AI Competition
Startups selected for the program receive not only funding but also close guidance from Llama’s experts, who will advise on advanced implementations tailored for generative AI products. Meta aims to secure its foothold in the expanding world of open source models, as competitors such as DeepSeek, Google, and Qwen from Alibaba race to capture developer interest.
Despite reaching over a billion downloads of the Llama models, Meta faces headwinds. Recent delays, like the postponed launch of the Llama 4 Behemoth model due to performance issues, coupled with allegations surrounding public benchmark scores, have highlighted the challenges in maintaining their lead.
Meta’s ambitions for Llama are significant, envisioning revenue from generative AI products reaching billions annually by the coming decade. Last year, company projections indicated these offerings could generate between two and three billion dollars in 2025, with long term estimates soaring as high as one point four trillion dollars by 2035.
Meta has introduced new tools and agreements to widen Llama’s adoption, such as customizable APIs and revenue sharing with partners who host Llama models. The company is also exploring ways to monetize its Meta AI assistant, considering both advertising and subscription plans for enhanced capabilities.
Operating costs for these AI initiatives are steep, with Meta’s generative AI budget surpassing nine hundred million dollars in 2024 alone and possibly hitting the billion dollar mark this year, excluding infrastructure expenses. The company expects to invest as much as eighty billion dollars in capital improvements, mostly for new data centers next year, underscoring the scale of Meta’s AI ambitions.
