On June 27, 2023, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator announced that their Generative AI Accelerator's eight participating startups have secured pilots or proofs of concept with Comcast, NBCUniversal, and/or Sky.

These startups seek to provide for a range of different customer needs, ranging from customer experience management, to video analytics, to deep fake detection.

The chosen eight were selected from among hundreds of applicants from over 20 countries, being chosen for their relevance to Comcast NBCUniversal, the skill and quality of their founders, and their experience with any other major enterprises.

“Given the caliber of the startups selected for the LIFT Labs Accelerator, it’s no surprise that we have identified growth opportunities for each one of them,” said Sam Schwartz, Chief Business Development Officer of Comcast, in a press release. 

“We are excited to continue learning from these innovative startup founders to deepen our understanding of the potential of emerging technologies such as generative AI,” he continued.

Over the course of the accelerator's six-week duration, startup founders worked alongside teams from each organization, showcasing their insights and the scope of their products to them and other corporations to help them understand how to leverage generative AI. 

Alongside these corporations, they made pitches to venture capitalists, worked with experts in the fields of media training, enterprise sales, and marketing, and developed pitches for market strategies.

At the program's end, these companies will continue to work with Comcast NBCUniversal as they enact their pilots and seek to develop them into long-term partnerships.

“This is the most immersive enterprise accelerator program we could have ever hoped for,” said Andrei Papancea, CEO and Founder of NLX, a conversational AI platform for enterprise teams.. 

“By week two we had already started the procurement process and by halfway through the program we had built a pilot side-by-side with the business units. Our Comcast partners have been nothing short of amazing in helping us navigate the complexities of the organization, while somehow squeezing in lots of fun networking events with the rest of the cohort companies,” he continued.

The eight companies chosen are Charisma.ai, Coactive, Inworld, Monterey AI, NLW, Reality Defender, Rephrase.ai, and Wscripted.

The LIFT Labs Accelerator provides opportunities for startups at different stages to develop their businesses as they seek to market themselves to various enterprises.

Since the launch of its first accelerator in 2018, 84% of the portfolio companies within it have landed a pilot, proof of concept, or commercial deal with Comcast NBCUniversal.