San Francisco, CA, Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 0G, the trust layer for AI, and xBuilders, a team of Stanford veterans who have run accelerator programs for Google for Startups and StartX, have added speakers and mentors from Anthropic, AWS, and Coinbase Ventures to Cohort 2 of the 0G Apollo AI Accelerator, an up to $20 million program for AI startups.* They join speakers and mentors from Google DeepMind and Google for Startups announced in October. Applications close on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
The first Apollo cohort on Stanford's Main Quad after graduating in July 2026.
New partners and perks
The program's partners now include Google Cloud and OpenAI, security audit firms Hashlock, CertiK and QuillAudits, PR firm Luna PR and investment firm Gaea Ventures. Perks confirmed so far for Cohort 2 teams include:
- 30% off Hashlock security audits
- 20% off CertiK services, including smart contract audits, pen tests, compliance, AML and KYC
- $20,000 in credits from QuillAudits, made up of $15,000 in QuillAudits credits and $5,000 in QuillShield credits
- 20% off Luna PR and Gaea Ventures packages
- Cloud and AI API credits at kickoff
More speakers, mentors, partners and perks will be added before the program starts.
About Cohort 2
Cohort 2 will select up to 10 AI startups for a three-month program running from December 2026 to February 2027, with up to $2 million in investment available per project.* It is open to AI founders building revenue-generating products, from early stage to growth stage, who are ready to build on 0G AI infrastructure.
Accepted teams receive:
- Up to $2,000,000 in investment per project, subject to due diligence, project evaluation and program terms*
- Mentorship with veteran operators and the 0G team
- Direct access to 0G engineers for integration support
- More partner perks at kickoff, including legal and banking services
- Demo Day at the end of the program, plus an in-person graduation on the Stanford campus
Alongside the new names, mentors include veteran operators from Google, Salesforce, Zapier, Plaid, Amazon, Microsoft, xBuilders, Canonical and more.
The program covers product strategy and AI and technical deep dives, a focused build sprint, and go-to-market, operations, legal and fundraising, ending with Demo Day and graduation. The program is primarily remote, except for an in-person graduation at Stanford toward the end of the program.
How Cohort 1 did
The first Apollo cohort of 10 teams was selected from more than 220 applications and graduated at Stanford in July 2026 after a ten-week program. According to 0G, the cohort has drawn more than 100 intro requests from investors, enterprises and partners since its Demo Day.
"Working across consulting at McKinsey, product at Amazon and venture capital has taught me how much the right support at the right time can matter for founders," said Weisi Yuen, Chief Strategy Officer at 0G Labs, who leads the Apollo Accelerator. "With Cohort 2, we're connecting founders with mentors and partners who understand the challenges they face, from finding their first customers to raising capital, so they don't have to figure everything out alone."
Timeline
- November 11, 2026: applications close
- December 2026: Cohort 2 kicks off
- December 2026 to February 2027: program, with Demo Day at the end and an in-person graduation at Stanford
Apply at apollo.0g.ai. Questions about the program: apollo@0g.ai.
*Investment amounts are subject to due diligence, project evaluation, and program terms. Actual funding may vary.
About 0G
0G is the trust layer for AI and a frontier AI lab. It trains its own foundation models, including the 0GM series, and builds the harness, safety, and verification layers around them. Its stack combines these with private compute and encrypted storage, designed to enable AI work, from inference to agent actions, to be verified and audited. Learn more at https://0g.ai.
About xBuilders
xBuilders is comprised of veteran founders, operators, and investors from Google, Salesforce, Capital One, and Coinbase, who have extensive experience running accelerators across AI, Fintech, and Blockchain. The team has taught Fintech, AI, and Blockchain as co-teachers of MS&E447 for the past three years, runs the Stanford Openlab Open Source AI Seminar, and has run the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator for the last 5 years, helping 85+ projects collectively raise over $1B from leading funds with multiple unicorn successes. The xBuilders team has also run AI accelerators for Cornell/IC3, and has extensive experience building and operating the Google for Startups accelerator program for dozens of cohorts across AI, innovation, and software technologies. Accelerator programming is based on Stanford University's startup methodologies and courses, and the extensive experience of the team as founders, operators, and investors running accelerators for SBA, Google for Startups, StartX, and Cardinal Ventures.
The program's partners now include Google Cloud and OpenAI, security audit firms Hashlock, CertiK and QuillAudits, PR firm Luna PR and investment firm Gaea Ventures.
Press Inquiries
pr [at] 0g.ai
https://0g.ai
