Grant and Credit Applications, answer pack

These are the Phase-0 (0% equity) applications from kurdify.app/invest. They are online forms behind your own accounts, so they cannot be submitted for you; every answer below is ready to paste. Refresh traction from /api/stats on the day you file (2026-07-16 live: 10,933 businesses, 226,276 reviews, 12 cities).

Standard answers (reused across every form)

• Company name: Kurdify (legal entity: Kavalsia Inc., Canada)
• Website: https://kurdify.app
• Founder: Siavash Sadighi (Sia), [email protected], Toronto, Canada
• Stage: Pre-seed, pre-revenue, product live
• Employees: 1 founder + ground partner in Erbil
• Funding raised: $0 (bootstrapped; currently raising a SAFE round)
• Industry: Marketplace / local commerce / consumer

One-liner (50 chars): AI platform linking diasporas to their homeland

Short description (~200 chars): Kurdify is the Sorani-first business platform for Kurdistan, Iraq: 10,900+ verified businesses, 226,000+ reviews, 12 cities, loyalty coupons, events ticketing, local payment rails, and a Kurdish AI assistant.

Long description (~500 chars): Kurdify connects nationalities to their diasporas, starting with 40M+ Kurds. The wedge is a Kurdistan-first business platform: 10,900+ real businesses and 226,000+ reviews across 12 cities, in Sorani, Kurmanji, Arabic, and English. On top: verification, a token-to-coupon loyalty economy, events ticketing, jobs, real estate, news, and an AI assistant that answers in Kurdish. Payment rails work where Stripe does not: FIB, ZainCash, crypto, and international cards. Sister app KurdConnect serves the diaspora in Canada, the US, and Europe.

Problem (short): There is no Yelp in Kurdistan, Google Maps coverage is thin and not in Kurdish, and Stripe/PayPal do not operate in Iraq. Commerce for 40M+ Kurds runs through Facebook posts and WhatsApp groups with no structure, no trust layer, and no rails to the diaspora's spending power.

Why AI (for cloud-credit forms): The product ships a Kurdish-language AI assistant (text and voice) and a multi-tenant WhatsApp AI agent that businesses subscribe to; models are consumed via API and fine-tuned prompting for Sorani. Credits directly offset inference and hosting for a low-ARPU emerging market.

1. Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub (up to $150k Azure + OpenAI)

Where: foundershub.startups.microsoft.com. Sign in with a Microsoft account, no funding requirement, rolling admission.

• What does your startup do? -> long description above.
• What stage are you? -> Idea to early revenue: choose "MVP/launched, pre-revenue".
• How do you use or plan to use AI? -> "Why AI" answer above.
• What will you use Azure for? -> "Hosting the API backend and data pipeline, Azure OpenAI for the Kurdish assistant and WhatsApp agent inference, storage and CDN for 10,900+ business listings and media."
• LinkedIn: your profile; company website: kurdify.app.

2. Google for Startups Cloud Program (up to $200k, up to $350k for AI startups)

Where: cloud.google.com/startup/apply. Requires a Google Cloud billing account and a company domain email ([email protected] works; kurdify.app email is better).

• Company description -> long description.
• Is your startup AI-first? -> Yes; paste "Why AI" and name the assistant (/ask) and the WhatsApp agent as shipped AI surfaces.
• Funding stage -> Pre-seed, bootstrapped, $0 raised.
• What will you build on Google Cloud? -> "Maps/Places enrichment pipeline, Vertex AI for Sorani-language assistant inference, Cloud Run for the events/ticketing API, BigQuery for marketplace analytics."

3. AWS Activate (up to $100k; the big tier needs an accelerator/VC "Activate Provider")

Where: aws.amazon.com/activate. Without a provider you qualify for Activate Founders ($1k). After joining Five One Labs or an accelerator, re-apply through their provider ID for the large credits.

• Answers: standard block + long description. Note the provider dependency in your calendar: apply to Founders tier now, upgrade after acceptance into a program.

4. Five One Labs (Erbil/Sulaymaniyah incubator + grants)

Where: fiveonelabs.org (programs open in cohorts; check current open application).

• About the business -> long description + traction snapshot.
• Why Kurdistan / local impact -> "Kurdify gives 200,000+ KRI SMBs their first structured digital presence, free verification, and a loyalty program that measurably drives foot traffic. It is built Sorani-first by a Kurdish founder, with a ground team in Erbil, and creates local jobs (sales reps, community manager, support) in the first year."
• Team -> founder (Toronto, built 100% of product, ex digital-marketing) + Erbil ground partner (Hazhar, business owner relationships).
• What do you need -> "Grant funding for the Erbil launch, local mentor network, introductions to the Iraqi Angel Investors Network, and Activate provider status for AWS credits."

5. KAPITA / Iraqi Angel Investors Network

Where: kapita.iq. This is both a program application and the top warm channel into Iraqi angels.

• Use the Five One Labs answers plus the investor one-liner: "Raising $500k on a YC post-money SAFE at a $6.5M cap; 10,900+ businesses, 226k+ reviews, 12 cities, revenue rails on."
• Attach: pitch deck PDF + term sheet (raise/forms/term-sheet.md).

6. Futurpreneur Canada (loan + mentorship, founders 18-39)

Where: futurpreneur.ca. Requires a business plan and cash-flow projection: submit raise/business-plan.md (export to PDF) and the projections table from section 11. Canadian resident, majority owner: qualifies through Kavalsia Inc. or the new entity.

7. SR&ED (Canada, refundable R&D tax credits)

Where: filed with Kavalsia Inc.'s T2 corporate return (canada.ca, form T661). Not a web form: flag to the accountant that the scraping/enrichment pipeline, Sorani NLP work, and payment-rail engineering are eligible experimental development. Keep engineering logs as evidence.

8. Competitions (batch-apply when windows open)

• Hult Prize (hultprize.org): requires a university affiliation on most tracks; check eligibility first.
• MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab (mitefarab.org): Arab Startup Competition track; Iraq-eligible.
• Orange Corners Iraq (orangecorners.com): incubation rounds; use the Five One Labs answers.

Filing order and status tracker