Australia and New Zealand
A ten-week equity-free accelerator program for Seed and Series A (or equivalent) Australian and New Zealand startups building AI&ML-driven platforms and products.
The Google for Startups Accelerator: Australia and New Zealand connects founders with the best people, products and practices to help them grow, leveraging Google’s AI&ML technical expertise and global networks to support startups' success.
Australia and New Zealand
About the program
About the program
A global series of programs
Each cohort of 10-15 startups comes together to tackle technical challenges that can help grow their businesses through a mix of remote and in-person, 1-to-1, group learning sessions, and sprint projects.
Dedicated expert help
Founders outline the top technical challenges for their startup, and are paired with experts from Google and the industry to solve those challenges and grow their business.
Specialist deep dives
Accelerators include deep dives and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.
Google product benefits
Early access to AI products: Eligible participants receive Early Access Program and Trusted Tester benefits for Google’s AI products where applicable.
Cloud credits: Startups interested in utilising Cloud credits during the Accelerator may apply here, subject to eligibility review and approval.
Cloud TPUs: Participants are eligible to receive free Cloud TPU access to accelerate open source machine learning research. Find out more.
Key benefits
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Equity-free support
Equity-free support for the duration of the program.
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Mentoring
Dedicated mentoring from Google teams.
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Training
Exclusive invitations to technical bootcamps hosted by Google where offered.
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Access to experts
Access to Google's network of industry experts.
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Early access to AI products
Access new Google AI products and tools as relevant through Trusted Tester and EAP benefits.
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Google product credits
Eligible startups receive product credits.
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Strategic support
Support on company and product strategy.
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Technical project partnership
Work hand in hand with experts from Google on your biggest tech challenges.
Entry criteria
Entry criteria
- Startups demonstrating traction, ideally between Seed and Series A stage
- Building a scalable product or service with a significant total addressable market and defensible growth model
- Deeply technical, preferably leveraging technologies like machine learning and AI
- Commitment from CEO and CTO / technical roles to participate and engage in required program sessions
- We are committed to building accelerator classes with great startups, and encourage applications from all qualified startups
Key dates
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September 1, 2026
Program Kick-off
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November, 2026
Graduation and Demo Day
Accelerator Alumni
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Streamlines asset management processes by providing automated condition reporting and predictive maintenance for efficient decision-making.
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Enables businesses to visually create backend APIs, automate complex workflows, and quickly integrate any tool using AI with no-code ease and low-code control if required.
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A virtual lab for the discovery and validation of new materials, using Al for materials science.
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Uses AI to improve productivity and streamline workflows for dentists, improving outcomes and transparency for patients and practices.
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Building the go-to app for pet health, giving pet parents affordable access to the best care and helping them master modern pet parenting.
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An Al-powered platform designed to revolutionize online communities by empowering community managers with intelligent, empathetic tools.
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Enables pharmaceutical companies to test and develop drugs using lab-grown human tissues integrated into an Al-powered platform.
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A Voice AI startup and a leading developer of smart and non-invasive artificial larynx technology for individuals who lose or damage their larynx.
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An intelligent teaching assistant that uncovers insights into a child's development and helps teachers plan what to do next, while simultaneously building knowledge, skills, and confidence.
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A platform to train, embed and retrieve embeddings, empowering users to build powerful retrieval applications for search, recommendations and RAG over any data at scale.
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Real-time, Al customer insights for product and customer-facing teams.
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Al and Human creative tool designed to inspire and accelerate the best creative minds.
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Partners with heavy industry OEMs to transform machines into intelligent, perceptive assets through multimodal, edge and cloud AI solutions.
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Brings real-time financial governance and control to every transaction—before it happens.
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Brings emotional and online safety support to where users are with personalised guidance and global helpline connections.
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Delivers an intelligent CX platform that transforms enterprise customer experience data into actionable insights and autonomous AI agents, deployed securely within customers' private cloud environments to drive complete CX operational autonomy.
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Uses Al agents for cost estimating by providing quantity take-offs and analyzing historical estimates.
The Accelerator has been a great learning experience, surrounded by technical and GTM leaders at Google - and an exceptional cohort pushing the boundaries of applied AI
Frequently asked questions
The Google for Startups Accelerator: Australia and New Zealand aims to level the playing field for startup founders and communities to succeed, connecting them with the best of Google. By taking part in this program, you can connect with the right people, products and best practices to help your startup grow.
The Accelerator targets Seed and Series A technology startups using AI/ML. These startups should be based in Australia and demonstrate traction, ideally between Seed and Series A stage. They are building a scalable product or service with a significant total addressable market and defensible growth model. There is commitment from the CEO and CTO / technical roles to participate and engage in required program sessions.
This program is not suitable to non for profits, government agencies, businesses engaged in illegal activity or businesses which have existing employees of Google.
Yes - please do! You will also need your technical co-founder to join the program to ensure the team benefits from the technical AI support provided.
The Google for Startups Accelerator: Australia is equity-free for all participating startups. Please note that we do require all founders and appropriate team members to be available to join all elements of the program.
The Accelerator is a hybrid program, Google can support interstate applicants and applicants from New Zealand to attend Bootcamp days and Demo days in-person.
Startups must meet specific criteria to be eligible for Google product credit offerings. To learn more about the Google Cloud credit eligibility requirements, please visit the Google Cloud startup page.
Startups familiar or new to GCP will benefit from joining the program through personalised support from Google Engineers. Our aim is to help you solve your technical problems and to leverage the best possible cloud-based tools and services.
The Accelerator features a small cohort of AI startups that come together to tackle specific technical challenges that can help grow their businesses. Offerings include an in-person bootcamp at the Sydney Google office, 1-to-1 mentoring, group learning sessions, and sprint projects.
Tailored, expert help
Founders outline the top technical challenges for their startup, and are then paired with relevant experts from both Google and the industry to solve those challenges and grow their business.
Specialist deep dives
In addition to mentorship and technical project support, Google for Startups Accelerators include deep dives and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.
The Accelerator offers internal Google experts and external industry leaders to help startups solve specific business and technical challenges. Mentorship usually consists of 1:1 sessions, held in-person, or virtual. Sessions focus on a specific business need which aligns with the mentor’s area of expertise. Mentors can offer support in a range of business areas, from helping founders to set and achieve goals, to scaling to new markets.
When you finish the accelerator program, our goal is that you have solved specific technical challenges through the support of our Google engineers; and through the support of our people, product and growth mentors, feel empowered to pitch, raise funds and grow at scale.
At the end of the program, startups will take part in closing celebrations and Demo Day. Founders will also have the opportunity to share their startup/products with cohort-mates, Google senior leaders, members of our investor mentor network, and other teams around Alphabet. It is mandatory for each startup to participate in Demo Day. For inspiration, you can watch one of our global Demo Days here.
Yes. You can view our alumni on the directory page.