A new alliance is trying to turn successful businesses you've never heard of into billion-dollar multinationals you'll probably still never hear of.
It's focused on helping later stage Australian start-ups export their business to the world but its not looking for the next Uber, Snapchat or Instagram.
Instead, the elevate61 entrepreneur program, a partnership between KPMG Australia and not-for-profit global organisation Advance, is focused on the decidedly less sexy but possibly more lucrative world of business-to-business (B2B) commerce.
Two of the Asia Pacific's most successful start-ups, business software providers Xero and Atlassian, are in this space and have valuations in the billions of dollars.
KPMG Australia head of innovation services James Mabbott said he was aiming to help growing businesses in Queensland and the rest of the country emulate their success.
He readily admitted B2B companies didn't attract the same level of attention as consumer facing companies but said the opportunities were just as big, if not bigger.
"People read about the Googles and the Facebooks and Twitter and those sorts of things but it's interesting, Australia's had, as has New Zealand, some pretty good success in that B2B space," he said.
"We don't know if any of those companies will be that but certainly we're trying to create the best possible conditions to help them scale quickly."
He said the program was also helping to fill a funding gap for businesses slightly further along in their development.
"There's a big gap around that funding space from about one and a half to $5 million," he said.
"Your early stage funding and angel funding and that sort of stuff tends to be easier but in that higher fundraising space it becomes more difficult."
The program is designed to combine the networks of both KPMG Australia and Advance to connect Aussie businesses with potential partners in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
Bernie Woodcroft, CEO of Brisbane start-up accelerator ilab, was involved in the program's launch.
ilab is one of the organisations focussing more on the earlier stage of business development but Mr Woodcroft said he knew of several Brisbane-based businesses that were ready to take the next step.
"If you can find the right people, the right contact and the right companies quickly you will succeed or fail quickly versus spending a lot of time scrabbling around trying to get introductions," he said.
"It's always an ironic feature of the world today that introductions and networks remain as critical as they've been even with ubiquitous communications and information flow."
Mr Woodcroft said there had always been plenty of opportunities in the B2B space but it was good to see companies shine a spotlight on the sector.
Applications for the program close next week.
