Confluent offers a year of free Apache Kafka to Aussie startups

Data streaming company Confluent will offer Australian startups one year's worth of free access to event store and stream processing platform Apache Kafka.

The free access is part of the Silicon Valley company's Confluent for Startups program which is now available in Australia.

Confluent said the "program enables seed and A-round startups to deploy the power of Apache Kafka while maintaining the speed and agility that early-stage businesses need."

"Using fully-managed Confluent Cloud, early-stage businesses can set their data in motion to build smart, real-time applications, and bypass the pain of in-house development, or using less flexible alternatives with fewer features" it added.
 
“The first 12-18 months is a pivotal stage for startups, yet too many have to rely on inflexible, makeshift data stacks that can’t support fast growth and rapid product development," Tim Graczewski, Head of Confluent for Startups said.

"Australia has a burgeoning startup scene and through our program we’re making real-time data real easy for these ambitious businesses, empowering them with the fully managed Confluent Cloud platform at a crucial stage.”
 
Startups can also get access to two hour-long sessions with specialist systems engineers to review their current data architecture; queries answered by Confluent's senior technical experts in drop-in sessions during officers, and learning Kafka and Confluent, with self-paced and instructor led training and certification guidance. 

Deepak Ajmani, vice president of APAC commercial at Confluent said that many startups face big challenges with budgets and small teams with limited in-house Kafka expertise.

"Through this program, we’re empowering early-stage businesses across Australia to get their infrastructure right from the start, with access to Kafka and Confluent experts to accelerate product and service development while dramatically reducing the in-house technical work," 

Confluent counts major brands such as Michelin, Walmart, BMW, Domino's, Judo Bank, and Intel as customers.