Techstars' Comcast NBCUniversal Lift Labs Accelerator Class of 2019

Jul 15, 2019

Today marks the start of the 2019 Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, powered by Techstars. This will be the second year of the program, and the 11th accelerator I will have run as a Managing Director at Techstars (the most of anyone at the organization). It’s also the one I am most excited about.

This year’s program continues where we left off last year with our focus remaining the same: connectivity, media, and entertainment.  We spent the last several months meeting entrepreneurs from around the world. With applications from nearly 50 countries, we ultimately selected companies from cities including Bangalore, Boulder, Kiev, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Toronto.  We are especially excited by the diversity of this year’s class, with nearly one-third of our companies led by female CEOs.

Over the next 13 weeks these 11 companies will work with more than 100 mentors to grow and refine their businesses.  They will hear from seasoned founders and industry leaders and test their assumptions with business leaders from our partner, Comcast NBCUniversal.  They will be trained in how to pitch and work with the press and visit 30 Rockefeller Center, headquarters of NBC, to hear from experts in media. Finally, they’ll experience everything that Philadelphia, their home for the next three months, has to offer, including the new Comcast Technology Center, where LIFT Labs will occupy an entire state-of-the-art floor dedicated to working with the startup community.

None of this would have been possible without the support of all of our mentors and alums who met with countless founders and provided guidance during the selection process.  I’d also like to thank the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs team for their continued support and commitment to collaboration. Over the past couple months, I have gotten to know the team and am certain that this is a truly special program.  We will be sharing more about each company over the next several weeks leading up to Demo Day on October 10th, but for now please join us in welcoming the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, Powered by Techstars Class of 2019!

Diana AI

Diana AI is a conversational business intelligence and analytics tool that enables non-technical users to access enterprise data and analyze it easily, using natural language via voice or text.

https://dianaai.com/ 

edisn.ai

edisn.ai delivers interactive and personalized content to sports fans by applying its AI-powered player recognition engine to live video streams in real time.

http://edisn.ai/ 

GameOn 

GameOn increases live sports engagement by turning complicated stats and odds into simple prediction games for the everyday fan.

https://gameon.app/ 

Messy.fm

Messy.fm is the all-in-one podcasting solution for businesses, brands, and individuals to record, edit, and publish unlimited episodes for free.

https://www.messy.fm/ 

NICKL

NICKL enables individuals and organizations to personalize and manage their digital content subscriptions in one place.

https://nickl.io/ 

Pivan Interactive

Pivan provides advanced training and analytics for competitive gaming athletes, powered by computer vision and AI.

https://uncanny.gg/ 

Respeecher

Respeecher uses AI technology to transform voices, allowing one person to speak in the voice of another.

https://respeecher.com/ 

Sporttrade

Sporttrade is a free prediction market where users can buy and sell outcomes of sporting events like stocks.

https://sporttrade.io/ 

Struct Club

Struct Club elevates how music-inspired fitness instructors choreograph and deliver classes.

https://structclub.com/ 

TakeShape

TakeShape enables one-click integrations that allow developers to easily combine data from the JAMstack without having to write new code.

https://takeshape.io/ 

The GIST

The GIST provides sports content, experiences, and community for women.

https://thegistnews.ca/