AI Residency
Over 12 weeks, the program provides everything you need to validate your AI-native idea and build a venture-backable company, with hands-on support from day zero, equity-free.
Golden Gate - San Francisco, California, USA
No deck. No landing page. No name yet. Some of the founders we’ve backed showed up looking exactly like that. If your thesis is still taking shape, you’re already in our sweet spot.
Validate your thesis and build fast, with hands-on support running your first GTM experiments. Less theory, more execution.
200+ founders, 15+ advisors, 8 partners, and a network of AI-focused investors. Share knowledge, exchange perspectives, and open doors together.
Get support from world-class founders who’ve built and scaled unicorns, guiding your strategic checkpoints along the way.
A 12-week program by Canastra Ventures, designed for extraordinary founders from day zero. We front-load our value-add to help you validate your thesis, build AI-native products, gain early traction, and close your first investment round.
Apply nowThe value-add we front-load
Design partners and early customers to test your product against real demand.
Hands-on support across AI, product, biz dev, and GTM to sharpen your roadmap and run your first experiments.
Intros to VCs, angel investors and advisors to secure your first check and unlock doors along the way.
We help recruit key talent for your team through our AI talent community.
Our sweet spot: early, unproven, and often unseen.
We back exceptional, out-of-the-curve founders before the world sees them. What matters is founder quality and an AI thesis with real scale potential.
2 to 4 co-founders preferred, but committed solo founders open to building a team are welcome too.
At least one co-founder full-time from day zero, with the full team on board by program’s end.
An AI-first thesis: products with AI at the core of the value proposition, in any sector.
Founders with real depth in AI, including at least one technical co-founder.
$200K+
Up to $200K from Canastra in your first institutional round.
1:1 accountability sessions with Canastra Partners, on demand.
Direct access to leading AI labs, scientists, and researchers.
Exclusive credits and benefits worth over $300K across essential startup tools and services.
and more
Talks, workshops, and roundtables with AI, product, and VC experts.
Brazil–Silicon Valley AI ecosystem networking.
Canastra’s PR support from stealth mode to startup launch.
Residents work side by side with world-class founders, AI researchers and operators matched to whatever your startup needs most, on demand.
Meet the entire teamFellow Advisors
Residents also get access to Canastra’s network of Fellow Advisors who bring diverse backgrounds and connections across industries to advise and invest in our founders.
Where they built
and more
AI Residency runs on a rolling basis, with no fixed cohort dates. Applications are reviewed continuously, and each startup moves through the program at its own pace.
Apply to AI ResidencySubmit your application at any time.
We review your idea and team, then schedule a fit call.
Once selected, you’ll join as an entrepreneur in residence for 12 weeks.
Accept the offer and start immediately. No cohort to wait for.
Remote. However, we regularly organize in-person roadshows, workshops, and immersion programs in São Paulo and Silicon Valley.
AI Residency runs on a rolling basis. There’s no fixed cohort: applications are reviewed continuously, and accepted startups start the program right away. Typically, we support 8–10 residents annually through the program.
Not required at the start, but you should be ready to formalize by the first half of the program.
Residents get access to more than $300K in credits and benefits on essential startup tools, plus a strategic recruiting network, advisors, and investor connections.
Partners and Advisors with experience in AI, tech, infrastructure, fundraising, sales and marketing.
Applications are open on a rolling basis. Apply anytime.
Apply to AI Residency
