Philadelphia-based accelerator focused on
media, entertainment, and connectivity ends with live pitch event,
including major company announcements
Ten tech startups from around the world who are building
innovative media, entertainment, and connectivity companies
showcased their products and stories on Thursday at “Demo Day,” the
finale of the inaugural Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator,
powered by Techstars.
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the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181012005055/en/
A founder from each company took center stage at The Franklin
Institute and pitched their business to hundreds of investors,
mentors, Comcast NBCUniversal team members, and Philadelphia’s tech
and startup community, while a global audience watched online via
livestream.
During the 13-week accelerator program, the 10 companies worked
with more than 50 mentors across Comcast NBCUniversal, including
Comcast Cable Chief Business Development Officer Sam Schwartz;
Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for
Universal Pictures Pank Patel; and NBC President of Digital
Enterprises Maggie Suniewick to refine and test their business
models.
Mentors that engaged with the startups also included executives
from the NBC broadcast and cable networks, Universal Studios,
Universal Theme Parks, DreamWorks, Comcast Business, Strategic
Development, Comcast Ventures, LIFT Labs, and the teams that build
XFINITY products and services. Comcast NBCUniversal mentors joined
an esteemed Techstars community that includes over 75 mentors who
have deep industry, investment, and entrepreneurship
experience.
It was announced during Demo Day that many of the startups
landed pilot projects during their time in the accelerator, and
others are in the works. As of Demo Day, three of the companies are
maintaining a presence in Philadelphia after the program, where
Comcast NBCUniversal is headquartered.
In the last 13 weeks, the companies learned from more than a
dozen talks from founders of companies, multiple media trainings,
and hundreds of business meetings. They also recently visited
NBCUniversal headquarters at 30 Rock to meet with executives and
participate in practice interviews with CNBC Squawk on the Street,
TODAY, NBC Nightly News, and Your Business with JJ Ramberg.
“We were inspired by the spirit and creativity of these
companies as they were building their businesses,” said Schwartz.
“For our executives, it was an exciting opportunity to mentor and
learn alongside them. There are many collaboration stories, and we
hope this is just the beginning of what’s to come. Some of the
founders will continue to build successful companies alongside us,
in our hometown of Philadelphia, and in other cities around the
globe.”
"Having worked closely with these 10 companies, I've been
inspired by how they have considerably evolved over a short
period of time. I'm eager to watch them continue to grow and
collectively unfold the future of how media will be defined,
how it will be consumed, and how it will bring us together,” said
Techstars Managing Director Maya Baratz. “Now a part of the
Techstars network, I also look forward to watching them expand this
core network that helps entrepreneurs succeed as they scale their
companies."
Notable advancements from the last 13 weeks showcased by the
startups at Demo Day included:
alive5, Austin, TX: alive5 offers the easiest way for
small-to-medium-sized businesses to engage customers and accept
payments on any digital messaging channel. The company supports
over 800 customers, including 200 of the top pro and college sports
teams, major hotel brands and Comcast Spectacor. alive5 is now
partnering with Spectra Venue Management, which manages hundreds of
venues throughout North America, to pilot alive5's messaging and
concierge services.
eyecandylab, US and Munich, Germany: eyecandylab enables video
content creators to engage their viewers and monetize their media
through interactive augmented reality experiences. After an initial
launch in Germany with a major media company that resulted in 365k
downloads and a #1 rank in the App store, eyecandylab debuted in
the US successfully with Nickelodeon.
Orai, Philadelphia: Orai is an artificial intelligence speech
coach that helps people become more effective and confident
communicators. With 100k users and counting, Orai is now the #1
public speaking app in the App store. The company has solidified a
channel partnership with Mandel Communications, and has enterprise
customers including Comcast and Medallia.
Pium, New York City and Seoul, South Korea: Pium allows you to
experience a variety of mood-boosting scents throughout your day
with one connected device and a subscription-based scent platform.
The company has plans to partner with Universal Parks and Resorts
and Loews Hotels to offer a sneak peek of the product to hotel
guests.
Polycade, Los Angeles, CA: Polycade turns video games into
in-person social events with an engaging, connected arcade console
and a curated, digital gaming platform. After successfully raising
$120k above a $20k ask on Kickstarter, the company reached over
$750,000 in sales, without any marketing. Their active pilot
customers include WeWork, Grubhub, and Comcast Business.
Portl Media, Toronto: Portl is the personalized entertainment
platform for rideshare vehicles today and autonomous vehicles
tomorrow. After an initial test in Toronto that drove 89% user
engagement, the company has signed content and advertising deals
with partners including Vice and Nestle and will soon be piloting
in cities in the US, including Philadelphia. Portl also negotiated
a deal with a major telco provider to activate hundreds of
thousands of tablets on the telco’s network nationwide through
2023.
Tally Interactive, Toronto, Canada: Tally empowers content
creators to make and host their own live, interactive shows. On
average, people spend 95 minutes watching gaming livestreams on
Twitch for every 3.5 minutes watching non-gaming livestreams. Tally
bridges this gap; 9 out of 10 viewers interact with shows on Tally
and, on average, viewers engage twice every minute with no monetary
incentive.
Thinker-Tinker, Los Angeles, CA: Thinker-Tinker transforms kids’
screen time to quality, active play time with a character-based
learning platform that blends traditional tactile play and digital
interaction. After a successful Kickstarter campaign,
Thinker-Tinker is taking on an exciting and unique opportunity to
partner with Universal on a licensing arrangement that combines its
play platform with a variety of DreamWorks iconic characters,
including those from classic films like Shrek and Kung Fu
Panda as well as favorite characters from some of DreamWorks'
latest theatrical and future animated series, including
Trolls, Spirit Riding Free and DreamWorks Dragons.
Trapica, New York, NY: Trapica leverages artificial intelligence
to optimize targeting decisions in advertising campaigns as they
run, allowing marketers to reach the right audiences at the exact
time they are ready to convert. Using their product, their
customers have saved up to 70% off their conversion cost and
increased their ROI by 300%. In the last 6 months, Trapica has
grown in revenue by 25% month-over-month, and has recently added
some of the biggest advertisers as clients, ranging from Universal
Studios to Dirty Lemon.
WiARframe, Singapore: WiARframe empowers anyone to prototype and
share augmented reality experiences in minutes. While it is widely
held that AR has the potential to be even bigger than the web,
currently only people with deep technical knowledge can design for
it. WiARframe changes that. Now notable media companies, including
SYFY, and leading agencies including Huge, EON Reality and Nexus
Studios are gearing up to use WiARframe for their next AR
projects.
Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs will begin accepting applications
for its second accelerator class, run in partnership with
Techstars, scheduled to begin next July in Philadelphia. Founders
from around the world who are serious about developing the next
generation of media, entertainment and connectivity companies are
encouraged to apply starting in January 2019 by
visiting https://lift.comcast.com/accelerator/.
Comcast has a long history of supporting startup communities and
LIFT Labs is just one of the many ways in which entrepreneurs can
gain valuable access and insights to Comcast NBCUniversal. Comcast
launched its first venture arm in 1999, and in 2010, Comcast
Ventures was formed and has since grown into one of the most active
corporate venture arms in the country. LIFT Labs, with its first
location in the new Comcast Technology Center opening later this
year, offers programmed talks, mentor sessions with Comcast
NBCUniversal employees and partners, plus events and other
educational resources designed to help entrepreneurs launch and
grow their businesses. For more information, including access to
free resources, visit www.ComcastNBCULIFT.com or follow @LIFT_Labs
on Twitter.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and
technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and
NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation’s largest video,
high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers
under the XFINITY brand, and also provides these services to
businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation
services to residential customers under the XFINITY brand.
NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable
networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television
production operations, television station groups, Universal
Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit
www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
About Techstars
Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs
succeed. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs,
experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and
corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates three
divisions: Techstars Startup Programs, Techstars Mentorship-Driven
Accelerator Programs, and Techstars Corporate Innovation
Partnerships. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than
1,600 companies with a market cap of $16.1 Billion.
www.techstars.com
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181012005055/en/
Comcast CorporationKatie Lubenow,
215-286-5691Katie_Lubenow@Comcast.comorTechstarsJoanie Kindblade,
303-562-6230joanie.kindblade@techstars.com
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