PARC Sponsors 9Mile Labs to Turbocharge B2B Startups

SEATTLE – 9Mile Labs (www.9milelabs.com) today announced that PARC, a Xerox company, (www.parc.com) has decided to sponsor the second cohort at 9Mile Labs. This collaboration brings PARC’s unmatched intellectual property assets, technical mentoring, and rapid prototyping infrastructure to selected startups within the 9Mile Labs business-to-business (B2B) startup accelerator program. This announcement demonstrates PARC’s commitment to the startup community; it also demonstrates the critical role the startup community plays within the development and extension of PARC’s world-class innovation ecosystem. This partnership also exemplifies 9Mile Labs’ commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and investors in the B2B startup community.

“For 9Mile Labs, it is imperative that strategic partners share our philosophy of entrepreneur-centricity,” said Enrique Godreau III, partner at 9Mile Labs. “PARC’s focus on and expertise in B2B technologies is right in line with our investment thesis. PARC’s world-class technology, human and infrastructure assets provide a singular and valuable opportunity for the 9Mile Labs startups as well as the members of the extended network active in our program.”

With the large number of general-purpose accelerators active today, 9Mile Labs has chosen to exclusively focus on startups addressing B2B problems and opportunities. The entire design of the 9Mile Labs accelerator – including the program length, the level of capital investment, and the active community engagement – is built to address the unique needs of B2B technology companies. Startups are picked through a unique two-stage selection process, into a program that is 4 weeks longer than most other programs to account for longer customer validation and adoption cycles; correspondingly, 9Mile Labs invests almost twice the amount that many accelerator programs do in order to extend the amount of time available to build a viable business.

Central to the program is the integration of hands-on mentoring and customer interaction with a comprehensive curriculum. In order to provide world-class coaching to startups in the program and to more effectively engage the broader business community in nurturing these businesses, 9Mile Labs dedicates considerable effort to recruit exceptional mentors who provide continuity of meaningful engagement throughout the program. As part of its ongoing work to promote B2B entrepreneurship, 9Mile Labs is also supporting and sponsoring one of the world’s very first B2B Startup Weekends on May 16-18, 2014. The event will be held in conjunction with Milestone9, the next Demo Day for 9Mile Labs companies, on May 16, 2014.

“We have been impressed by the [9Mile Labs] team’s commitment to understanding and solving the challenges facing early stage startups and entrepreneurs, especially in how they innovatively leverage cutting-edge ethnographic research techniques and the broader business community to improve the program itself as well as to optimize its interactions with the program’s entrepreneurs,” said Walt Johnson, VP and Lab Director of PARC’s Intelligent Systems Lab. “We’re convinced that PARC’s involvement in the 9Mile Labs program is consistent with the way we would like to engage with and support startups.”

Since its inception, PARC has pioneered countless technological innovations – from Ethernet and laser printing to digital X-rays and blue lasers – and has enabled the creation of many businesses and industries. Today, PARC is accelerating the fortunes of both startups and larger corporations through innovation by providing deep technology expertise, leveraging existing technology and IP assets, and by applying PARC’s internal infrastructure and innovation ecosystem for rapid prototyping and development.

The alignment between the startup-focused goals and philosophies of PARC and 9Mile Labs has been apparent even during their early engagement. The PARC team decided to collaborate with Comr.se – one of the promising startups in 9Mile Labs’ Cohort I – by helping to dramatically accelerate development of their data analytics infrastructure by utilizing PARC’s outsourced data foundry services. The engagement compresses Comr.se’s development and go-to-market timeframes by 12-18 months at a fraction of the traditional cost, thereby providing them with a valuable advantage over their competition.

9Mile Labs invites entrepreneurs, businesses, investors, service providers and the broader entrepreneurial community to participate in Milestone9 on May 16 and the inaugural B2B Startup Weekend event on May 16-18, 2014.

About 9Mile Labs
9Mile Labs is a high-tech accelerator based in the Seattle metro area focused on B2B software and cloud technologies. 9Mile Labs runs two 3-month programs every year, each with a group of 9 startups. During these 3 months, startups receive funding, access to an impressive set of mentors, free workspace and the opportunity to present to investors at the end of the program in exchange for an equity stake in the startups.

About PARC
PARC, a Xerox company, is in the Business of Breakthroughs®. Practicing open innovation, we provide custom R&D services, technology, expertise, best practices, and intellectual property to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, startups, and government agencies and partners. We create new business options, accelerate time to market, augment internal capabilities, and reduce risk for our clients. Since its inception, PARC has pioneered many technology platforms – from the Ethernet and laser printing to the GUI and ubiquitous computing – and has enabled the creation of many industries. Incorporated as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox in 2002, PARC today continues the research that enables breakthroughs for our clients’ businesses.