Oz2US Ventures prepares 24‑week Melbourne to Silicon Valley accelerator program

Oz2US Ventures has unveiled a 24‑week program that starts in Melbourne and finishes with a 12‑week landing‑pad residency in Silicon Valley.

The hybrid accelerator splits evenly between a home base boot camp and US immersion.

Participants will spend the first 12 weeks refining their fundraising strategies and product plans in Melbourne before relocating to Oz2US’s co‑working hub in Menlo Park for three months of investor meetings and customer pilots.

“I’m impressed by the volume of amazing Australian founders solving incredible challenges, yet disheartened by the lack of available funding and resources to help them scale,” said Oz2US Ventures founder Robert Gallup. “I’m hoping to create a new paradigm for international expansion.”

“No other initiative provides this seamless integration of in-depth preparation and in-market engagement, enabling founders to launch confidently and scale successfully.”

The program gives founders visa guidance and legal support alongside introductions to US venture funds and mentors. Participants will have guidance from the likes of Vera Shokina (Silicon Valley Bank), Tom Chi (At One Ventures), Benjamin Levy (BootstrapLabs), and Trena Blair (FD Global Academy).

Oz2US has also signed the Panel Pledge, promising gender‑balanced events, and offers a 50% fee discount to women and other under‑represented founders.

Packsmith co‑founder Ben Wunderman, now based in San Francisco, said the cross‑border model would have shaved months off his own expansion. “I wish we’d had this level of domain expertise and soft‑landing support when we crossed the Pacific,” he said.

Structured accelerator programs deliver measurable pay‑offs. Wharton research tracking 8,580 companies found that accelerator graduates raise an extra US$1.8 million and hire more staff in the year after completion compared with non‑accelerated peers.

Yet Australian scale‑ups headed for the US have largely relied on short‑term Austrade Landing Pads or ad‑hoc advice from diaspora founders. Oz2US aims to plug that gap with a longer runway and a single point of contact on both sides of the Pacific.

Applications for the inaugural cohort are currently open with the first intake kicking off on 6 September.

Oz2US is holding an information session at Stone and Chalk Melbourne on July 29 for prospective applicants.