Accelerate Product Design with Onshape’s CAD Software for Startups

How tough is the startup world?

From navigating funding rounds to learning how to operate on tight margins, it’s not easy growing a business from the ground up. According to Failory, a content site for founders and entrepreneurs, 9 out of 10 startups fail within the first five years. 

At Onshape, our leadership is well-acquainted with the difficulties startups face daily, along with the joys felt by creating something extraordinary, as co-founder Jon Hirschtick wrote in the blog Why We Started from Scratch in the CAD Business. (In fact, Jon hosts Think Like a Startup, a fireside chat exploring the topics that matter to startups, entrepreneurs, and product designers.)

Today, innovative hardware startups use Onshape, helping teams build incredible products that make a positive impact on the world. But we knew we could do more to help startups iterate quicker and collaborate better by expanding access to Onshape. 

Introducing the Onshape Startup Program, which offers Onshape Professional, a CAD software for startups and more, to qualifying hardware startups and entrepreneurs at no cost. To extend the reach of this program, we are also partnering with incubator spaces that play an essential role for burgeoning hardware startups.

“Our startup customers are doing some of the most interesting and important work in the market,” said David Katzman, Onshape senior vice president and general manager, during Onshape Live ’23. “We believe that emerging disruptive companies should have the best design tools available, and we're proud to partner with them at the earliest stages.”

Powerful CAD for Hardware Startups

The Onshape Startup Program provides teams at qualifying companies access to Onshape Professional, a fully cloud-native CAD and PDM package with integrated simulation and rendering tools.

Onshape Professional is the ideal solution for any startup seeking 3D modeling software that scales up with their business. Onshape is accessible on any mobile device with a browser, freeing your team from other 3D modeling software or CAD software that tethers designers to just one computer. 

Beyond the many benefits Onshape provides to startup teams, including quarterly Onshape User Group meetings, our partnerships with incubator spaces and accelerator networks help talented teams get the resources they need to succeed.

Partnerships with Incubator Spaces & Accelerator Networks

Incubator spaces and accelerator networks play vital roles for startups. These communities offer members virtual or physical environments, as well as resources and technology, that fuel innovation and enable rapid growth.

To help serve and support the startup community, we are providing free Onshape Professional licenses of our cloud-native product development platform for partners to offer to their residents and clients. In addition to the free software, we are also providing free educational resources, training and even collaborating on events. 

We are excited to share a few of the initial spaces and communities we’re collaborating with: 

Accelerator Centre is among the top 5 private business accelerators globally. The AC connects startups to a community of experts and an extensive list of resources. We are thrilled to be collaborating with their community by providing access to Onshape Professional through our Startup Program. 

Greentown Labs, with locations in Boston and Houston, help scale climate tech startups and bring together like-minded entrepreneurs in the fight against climate change. In this collaboration with Greentown Labs, we are offering their resident startups acceptance into our Startup Program, which provides Onshape Professional licenses at no cost, in addition to other free resources, training, and more.

Techstars helps bridge early-stage startups to capital, mentoring, finding customers, hiring talent, choosing the right infrastructure, and more. Techstars offers their network of founders and companies a range of over 300 perks valued at over $4 million. We are proud to be one of their perk partners, offering their residents automatic acceptance to our Startup Program and thus free Onshape Professional licenses. 

You’ve Got the Idea, We’ve Got the Tools

If you want your incubator space or accelerator network to partner with us, please email us at marketing-partnerships@ptc.com. Otherwise, connect with us to find out more about the Onshape Startup Program to see if you qualify and learn how CAD software for startups can play a vital role in your startup’s success.