AT&T and Comcast Join 5G Open Innovation Lab’s Innovation Ecosystem as Founding Partners

The Lab also welcomes its largest cohort to date with 17 multi-stage, global startups joining Batch #8 Fall Program

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--5G Open Innovation Lab (5G OI Lab) announced today that international telecommunication leaders AT&T and Comcast have joined its innovation ecosystem. The Lab also announced today its Batch #8 cohort -- its largest to date with over $313M in venture capital raised and 17 multi-stage startups embarking on 5G OI Lab’s Fall program, which begins this week. The Lab has established itself as an ecosystem leader since its inaugural Batch #1 launch in May 2020 becoming a destination for innovative global startups, technology platforms, integration, and enterprises.

“As evidenced by the 118 startups in our ecosystem, the combination of 5G and edge is unlocking a massive wave of collaborative innovation in Cloud, Edge and AI across every industry from agriculture and power generation to manufacturing, logistics and medicine,” says Jim Brisimitzis, Founder and General Partner of the 5G Open Innovation Lab. “We are thrilled to welcome AT&T and Comcast as founding partners to help drive our vision to bring industry experts together and, collectively, drive innovation into overlapping ecosystems. 5G and edge are new foundations that can be used to drive new business models and technology across segments and companies.”

Telecommunications Global Leaders AT&T and Comcast Join as 5G OI Lab Founding Partners

AT&T and Comcast join 5G Open Innovation Lab today as founding partners, alongside a total of 18 other founding and corporate partners.

AT&T provides mobile, broadband and other communications services to U.S.-based consumers and nearly 2.5 million companies globally – from the smallest business to nearly all the Fortune 1000 – with highly secure, smart solutions. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to its 5G wireless and multi-gig internet offerings today, AT&T innovates to improve lives and connect people to greater possibility. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, AT&T’s commitment to innovation has made it a global leader in communication solutions.

“Collaboration is the key to innovation,” said Jay Cary, VP, Strategic Alliances, Corporate Strategy at AT&T. “As we continue forging ahead to realize 5G’s full potential, it is important to work with the nimble startup and innovation community so we can move faster and solve real-world technology challenges more holistically and effectively for our customers. We are excited to be part of that start-up thinking with the 5G Open Innovation Lab.”

Comcast Corporation is a global media and technology company that brings together connectivity and platforms with content and experiences to reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. Through Xfinity, Comcast Business and Sky, the company provides world-class broadband, wireless, and video; and through NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock and Sky it produces, distributes, and streams leading entertainment, sports, and news. Comcast’s Universal Destinations and Experiences team brings incredible theme parks and attractions to life for guests across the globe.

“The cycle of innovation often begins in small companies where a new idea can challenge existing ones, and Comcast has had success taking risks and embracing these new ideas,” said Tom Nagel, SVP, Wireless Strategy at Comcast. “Engaging with the startup community through our own Lift Labs or with organizations like the 5G Open Innovation Lab is an important factor not only in our own efforts but to push the industry forward in exciting new ways.”

5G OI Lab Announces its Batch #8 Fall Cohort -- largest to date

Batch #8 welcomes 17 new startups to 5G OI Lab’s open ecosystem bringing the total number of participating companies to 118. The multi-stage startups selected for the Lab’s Fall Batch #8 hail from around the Globe and represent cutting-edge enterprise solutions in fields such as real-time logistics and tracking, robotics, private mobile network security and IoT enablement.

Since the 5G Open Innovation Lab’s program inception in 2020, participating startups and alumni have raised a lifetime total of $2.088B with several exits valued at $200+M.

The startups selected to join the 5G Open Innovation Lab’s Fall Batch #8 include:

• Airspace - At Airspace, we believe in the potential drones have to positively impact the ways in which we do business, deliver services, and respond to emergencies. In order for that to happen, drones need to be flown safely.
• ASOCS - ASOCS provides a fully virtualized Private 5G Network solution, along with 5G Positioning Services for enterprises that require mission-critical, data-driven applications. ASOCS products are delivered on a scalable Software as a Service (SaaS) model.
• Clevon - Clevon develops and manufactures autonomous robot carriers, making last-mile delivery more innovative, environmentally friendly and efficient.
• Cumucore - Cumucore is a light mobile core with Industry 4.0 specific feature set to enable affordable next-generation mobile private networks.
• Eridan - Eridan is building the world's first digital sampling radio for 4G, 5G, and beyond.
• Expanso - Expanso, building upon their open-source project Bacalhau, offers a platform for distributed compute. They orchestrate jobs to run where the data is generated and stored, providing a fast and secure solution for large-scale data processing.
• Golioth - Golioth is uniquely positioned to enable custom IoT hardware to scale easily from one device to millions.
• HeadSpin - HeadSpin enables testing and monitoring of mobile, web, audio/video applications in real-time with AI-based insights.
• Intuitive Robotics - Intuitive Robotics leverages cutting-edge technologies, including 5G, edge computing, computer vision AI, generative AI, IoT, data analytics, and cloud computing, to deliver innovative SaaS solutions capable of addressing complex challenges across diverse industries such as agriculture, renewable energies, oil and gas, mining, and public safety.
• Kallipr - Kallipr are experts in remote monitoring IoT solutions that automate data generation at the extreme edge, allowing industries to increase operational efficiency, reduce operating costs and improve sustainability.
• Namla - Namla Cloud provides a platform that allows companies of any size to automatically deploy & manage thousands of edges in the best-optimized way.
• Nubix - Nubix is an edge native application platform that makes it easy to build, deploy and manage IoT and edge applications.
• OneLayer - OneLayer provides zero trust security and full asset management capabilities to IoT and other devices connected to a private cellular network.
• Orion Labs - Orion provides edge-optimized voice collaboration for frontline workers with encrypted, secure Push-to-Talk (PTT), location and media, and Voice AI Commands, Queries and Workflows for process automation.
• Pratexo - Pratexo brings the benefits of hybrid and distributed cloud computing to the edge of power systems that drive the energy transition.
• Real Life Robotics - Real Life Robotics is changing the way companies manage their labor. With our customizable cargo robotics platform, BUBs, we help clients fill the labor gap and focus their people on more value-added tasks.
• Reelables - Reelables smart labels automate data collection with real-time visibility into supply chain operations and performance.

About 5G Open Innovation Lab

The 5G Open Innovation Lab is a global innovation ecosystem that brings together multi-stage startups, enterprise and global technology platforms and investors to connect and collaborate on developing disruptive new enterprise technologies and solutions that capitalize on the power of edge computing connected to public and private 5G networks.

In just 4 years, the Lab has attracted a roster of world-class corporate and industry partners as well as 118 multi-stage enterprise startups who have collectively raised $2.088B of venture capital. Through 5G OI Lab’s unique model of open collaborative innovation, corporate partners work directly with ecosystem startups to accelerate commercialization through proof of concept, go-to-market, and other engagements and opportunities.