Applications for Free Booth Space on Startup Row at PyCon US 2025 Are Now Open

Calling all startup founders and aspiring entrepreneurs: did you know that PyCon US has been giving away free booth space to early-stage tech companies since 2011? Did you know that, since then, over 150 companies have gotten the opportunity to show off the cool stuff they’re building with Python? Would you have guessed that some of the most popular open source Python packages — Pandas, Plotly, and more — were developed by or spun out from companies that presented on Startup Row at PyCon US.

Good news: Startup Row applications are now open! But if you’re the action-oriented type who wants to skip all this reading and get straight to the point, here’s the direct link to the application. Applications close on March 14th, so don’t delay.

That’s right. As you might have guessed from the name, Startup Row is its own corner of the PyCon US expo hall offering free booth space to early-stage tech companies. The objective of this program is to give startups the best of what PyCon US has to offer:

• Booth space on Startup Row in the Expo Hall on the evening of May 15th for the Opening Reception and on the main exhibit days May 16th and 17th, 2025.
• Two conference passes (you’re welcome to stay for the post-conference sprints too); discounted passes for additional team members are available
• Optional access to the PyCon US Job Fair on Sunday, May 18, 2025
• Exclusive placement on the PyCon US website
• Coverage on the PyCon US blog when we announce this year’s Startup Row batch
• Eternal glory

The only catch? To discourage no-shows, PyCon US organizers require a fully refundable $400 deposit to secure your spot, and teams must cover their own transportation, lodging, and booth decorations (banners, swag, table coverings, etc). Startup Row organizers will work closely with your team to ensure logistics run smoothly. After the conference, PyCon US organizers issue refunds of those deposits to all companies that attended.

If your company is building something cool with Python, there’s likely no better place to share and connect with the Python software community than at PyCon US. Startup Row is where some companies first launch themselves to the public, where others have found their first customers and contributors, and where curious PyCon US attendees have found exciting, impactful job opportunities.

To help you figure out if your company is a good fit for Startup Row, we’ve put together a quick set of FAQs.

Does my startup qualify?

The goal of Startup Row is to give seed and early-stage companies access to the Python community. Here are the qualification criteria:

• Somewhat obviously: Python is used somewhere in your tech or business stack, the more of it the better!
• Your startup is roughly 2.5 years or less at the time of applying. (If you had a major pivot or took awhile to get a product in the market, measure from there.)
• You have 25 or fewer folks on the team, including founders, employees, and contractors.
• You or your company will fund travel and accommodation to PyCon US 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (There’s a helpful page on the PyCon US website with venue and hotel information.)
• You haven’t already presented on Startup Row or sponsored a previous PyCon US. (If you applied before but weren’t accepted, or if you’re a Startup Row alumni founder working on something new, please do apply again!)

There is a little bit of wiggle room. If your startup is more of a fuzzy rather than an exact match for these criteria, still consider applying.

How do I apply?

Assuming you’ve already created a user account on the PyCon US website, applying for Startup Row is easy.

1. Make sure you’re logged in on the PyCon US website.
2. Go to the Startup Row application page and submit your application by March 14th. (Note: It might be helpful to draft your answers in a separate document; the application form does not auto-save.)
3. Wait to hear back! Our goal is to notify folks about their application decision toward the end of March.

Again, the application deadline is March 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern. Applications submitted after that deadline may not be considered.

Can I learn more about Startup Row?

Absolutely. Check out the Startup Row page for more details and testimonials from prior Startup Row participants. (There’s a link to the application there, too!)

What kinds of companies get a spot on Startup Row?

All sorts of companies have been featured on Startup Row over the years: software and hardware, consumer and enterprise, both open-source and entirely proprietary codebases, and representing a dizzying array of industries ranging from “usual suspects” like developer tooling and machine learning frameworks to foundation model developers and even more offbeat offerings like an e-ink portable typewriter with cloud sync or an online wedding-planning platform.

To get a better idea of what a few of our recent batches looked like, check out announcements on the PyCon US blog from 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Members of the Startup Row selection committee are encouraged to consider the following factors when doing their scoring:

• The commercial opportunity of the venture. Can it be big?
• The suitability of the company’s product or service to address the problem they’re aiming to solve
• Credibility and capability of the founding team.
• The “X factor”: How much could this venture benefit from being on Startup Row? Will being on Startup Row significantly “move the needle” for the company or the Python community?

Startup Row’s success hinges on the quality of its applicant pool, and over the past 5 years especially, Startup Row batches have been particularly strong.

• Out of the 40 companies featured on SR since 2020, two of them are now valued at over $1 billion
• This same population of companies, in the time after appearing on Startup Row, have raised at least $950M in venture capital funding (at time of writing)
• Out of those 40 companies, 4 have been acquired by the likes of Databricks, Snowflake, Confluent, and Greylog.
• Besides US-based companies, Startup Row participants have flown in from Mexico, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, among other places

Although many Startup Row companies are self-funded or barely out of an accelerator program like Y Combinator, many go on to raise capital from leading venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, NEA, General Catalyst, True Ventures, and many, many others.

We’re excited to keep up this momentum in 2025.

Who do I contact with questions about Startup Row?

First off, if you have questions about PyCon US in general, you can send an email to the PyCon US organizing team at pycon-reg@python.org. We’re always happy to help.

For specific Startup Row-related questions, reach out to co-chair Jason D. Rowley via email at jdr [at] omg [dot] lol, or find some time in his calendar at calendly [dot] com [slash] jdr.

Wait, what's that deadline again?

Again, the application deadline is March 14, 2025 at 11:59PM Eastern.

Good luck! We look forward to reviewing your application!