Alumni of our ON Program have created 66 ventures, employed more than 500 people, and raised over $114 million in investment capital. Now, 20 new teams are embarking on their own ON Accelerate journey. We will be following their progress over the next several months. 

Welcome to ON Accelerate bootcamp 7

The teams of researchers and venture builders met in Sydney to join a two-day ON Accelerate bootcamp. They came from around Australia and represented a cross-section of universities, medical research institutes, and research organisations including CSIRO. 

Teams include small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that are commercialising IP licenced or acquired from an Australian university or publicly funded research organisation.  This is the first time we have included SMEs in the ON Accelerate program. Teams will be tackling a wide range of challenges. These include artificial intelligence (AI), medical science, agriculture, defence capabilities and the field of renewables and low emission technologies.  

Despite these differences, the ventures have one thing in common. They’re aiming to leave the ON Accelerate program as a viable startup.  

The next step on the path to impact

Teams must pass several stage gates to participate in the full 14-week ON Accelerate program.  Making it through the application stage was the first. Bootcamp is the next. During bootcamp, teams must prove their product-market fit, customer interest and team strength.  

Following the bootcamp, the top performing teams will make it through to the next stage – a week-long immersion.  

Not every team will make it through to the final stages of the program. But every team will leave with valuable connections and new knowledge about what’s needed to keep progressing their idea. 

Skills to make the leap from researcher to CEO

To help people move from being a researcher to being a leader of a successful startup venture, they will be partnered with a curated team of experts and follow an individual development plan.  

A team experts and mentors will share their knowledge on everything startup founders and researchers should know to become market-ready.  Our colleagues at Main Sequence will bring fellow investors from Australia’s deep tech venture capital community to meet teams early in their journey.

Dr Jeri Childers, ON Program Manager, said there are two things that bring absolute richness to ON Accelerate bootcamp. These are the calibre of participants and the diversity of innovation.  

“Our ecosystem attracts an amazing array of diversity in thinking. We’re incredibly lucky to be so well supported by a strong network of mentors, as well as our investment community partners who will form an integral part of the program,” Jeri said.  

We’re looking forward to introducing you to the teams that make it through to the next stage of ON Accelerate.