Oracle Corp. is expanding its efforts to nurture startups with a new virtual, nonresidential program that it’s rolling out globally today.

The Oracle Scaleup Ecosystem builds upon the Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator program that the database giant launched last year. The co-location centers in nine cities around the world provide mentoring, research and development resources, marketing and sales enablement, migration assistance, cloud credits and discounts along with access to Oracle’s customer and product ecosystems. Selected companies get access to a dedicated co-working space and introductions to other startups, Oracle customers, investors and partners.

The program attracted applications from 4,000 startups for 40 available office slots in five locations when it debuted last year. The virtual option is being added to address some of that excess demand, said Reggie Bradford, Oracle’s senior vice president of the Startup Ecosystem and Accelerator program.

“We saw that there’s a huge demand for companies that didn’t get into the program, as well as late-stage companies that don’t need all that care and feeding,” he said. The Scaleup Ecosystem will primarily target companies within the portfolios of private equity and venture capital firms, he said.

Oracle doesn’t invest directly in the start-ups it sponsors. “The model is pay-it-forward,” Bradford said. “The value for us is getting startups to use our platform and connecting them to opportunities.” Startups can plug gaps in the company’s portfolio and bring skills to the market that Oracle lacks internally, he said.

Big tech vendors have long invested in fledgling companies through their investment arms. Startup accelerators take a more holistic approach, often combining physical proximity to the host with introductions to customers and financiers. In addition to promoting the host company’s cloud offerings, the startups become attractive early-stage acquisition candidates. IBM Corp.’s Alpha Zone has provided similar assistance since 2014.

One of the biggest advantages of nurturing programs is to connect entrepreneurs with prospective customers, said Bradford, who has himself founded three companies. “When I’ve done startups, my biggest challenges have been  revenue and reference customers,” he said. At a recent event in New York City, one Brazilian entrepreneur said Oracle’s customer introductions had produced a half million dollars in business. “That was music to my ears,” Bradford said.

Effective today, Austin, Texas, becomes the first of Oracle’s nine Cloud Accelerator locations to be sited in the U.S. The program is headed by Jason Williamson, formerly head of the global management consulting and private equity operation at Amazon Web Services Inc. and an Oracle management consultant before that.

Bradford wouldn’t say how much Oracle is investing in the accelerator effort, but said about 50 employees are dedicated to the program. “The investment is meaningful and we’re running very fast,” he said.

Oracle said the Accelerator will select five to six startups per cohort and support two cohorts per year. Candidates can sign up for more information here.

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