The Walt Disney Company’s Startup Accelerator Program Announces 2015 Participants
10 July 2015 - 3:00AM
Business Wire
Second Disney Accelerator Features
Technology-Based Companies Focused on New Platforms, Artificial
Intelligence and Robotics
Today The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) announced the 2015
class of the Disney Accelerator program powered by Techstars. The
second Disney Accelerator program features ten startup companies
that will participate in a three-month mentorship and investment
program beginning today and concluding with a Demo Day on October
6, 2015.
The companies selected for the 2015 Disney Accelerator program
include:
- Decisive: Decisive is a Software as a
Service (SaaS) platform that uses real time data to enable
advertisers to optimize mobile ad creative and targeting based on
user engagement.
- EMOTIV: EMOTIV is a bioinformatics
company that uses electroencephalography (EEG) to track mental
performance, monitor emotions, and control virtual and physical
objects with thoughts.
- FEM Inc.: FEM Inc. has developed a
personalized video engagement platform based on neuroscience and
psychology that maps the emotional dimensions of how and why
content resonates.
- HYP3R: HYP3R enables businesses and
brands to identify influential customers at their locations and
engage them in real time, when it matters most.
- imperson: imperson provides an
artificial intelligence platform enabling fans to have
conversations with their favorite movie and TV characters.
- Littlstar: Littlstar aggregates
industry leading virtual reality content with its device agnostic
discovery and distribution platform.
- MakieLab: MakieLab lets kids bring toys
to life by building their own customizable 3D-printed toys through
creative games and apps.
- Open Bionics: Open Bionics is a
robotics company creating affordable 3D-printed bionic hands for
amputees, researchers and makers.
- Pundit: Pundit lets creators host audio
Ask Me Anything (AMA’s) with their Twitter network, transforming
the talk radio experience for the social media age.
- StatMuse: StatMuse is developing an
artificial intelligence platform to help sports fans explore data
using simple, natural language.
“Last year’s Disney Accelerator exceeded our expectations on
many fronts,” said Kevin Mayer, Chief Strategy Officer of The Walt
Disney Company. “We are excited to roll up our sleeves again this
year and help these cutting-edge startups achieve their goals.”
Participants receive up to $120,000 in investment capital to
develop their ideas, along with mentor support from top Disney
executives, including Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger, and leaders
from Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, ESPN and Walt Disney Imagineering,
among others. Mentors will also include other entertainment
industry leaders, venture capitalists, and Techstars’ extensive
network of entrepreneurs, investors and executives.
The startups from the 2014 Disney Accelerator have reached many
milestones since completing the program. All of the startups have
either raised capital, been acquired or become profitable since the
end of the Accelerator and many of the participating companies have
launched products and programs in conjunction with The Walt Disney
Company:
- ChoreMonster launched a Disney•Pixar’s
Inside Out takeover of their app that unlocks characters from the
film with completed chores.
- Naritiv’s Snapchat campaign for ABC
Family’s Pretty Little Liars has amassed more than 1.3 million
followers on Snapchat.
- Robotics company Sphero is currently
building an official toy based on the BB-8 droid used in the
upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens that will be available later
this year.
- App creator TYFFON released the Show
Your Disney Side app for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, which was
downloaded more than 1.25 million times in the first two
weeks.
For more information on both the 2014 and 2015 Accelerator
programs, please visit: http://DisneyAccelerator.com.
About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and
affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment
and media enterprise with the following business segments: media
networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer
products and interactive media. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had
annual revenues of $48.8 billion in its Fiscal Year 2014.
About Techstars
Techstars is a global ecosystem that empowers entrepreneurs to
bring new technologies to market wherever they choose to build
their business. With 18 mentorship-driven accelerator programs
worldwide, Techstars exists to support the world’s most promising
entrepreneurs throughout their lifelong journey. Techstars provides
access to over 3,000 founders, mentors investors, and corporate
partners, allowing entrepreneurs to accelerate the pace of
innovation and do more faster. Techstars makes entrepreneurship
more accessible by providing access to capital, guidance,
marketing, business development, customer acquisition, and
recruitment. For more information, visit www.techstars.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150709005312/en/
The Walt Disney CompanyCarrie Davis,
818-931-3270Carrie.Davis@disney.comorMariam Sughayer,
818-560-3117Mariam.Sughayer@disney.com
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