10 Startups That you Need to Know About From XRC Labs Demo Day

The death of retail is greatly exaggerated.

XRC Labshosted demo day for its fourth cohort, which includes ten innovative startups that are changing the face of retail. Since launching two years ago, the program has backed 36 startups and 70% of the past graduates have gone on to raise additional funds. The accelerator was conceived jointly by Kurt Salmon, now part of Accenture, and the Parsons School of Design to drive positive transformation for retail and consumer goods industries through a design-centric innovation ecosystem. Over the last 14 weeks, the summer cohort enjoyed state of the office space on 5th Avenue in Union Square, world class mentorship, access to capital, direct introductions that have led to partnerships with some of the leading brands, and operational support, all in addition to $100,000 in investment.

“The XRC Cohort Four companies represent the best in class in the key disruptive trends in the retail and consumer goods industry (store to consumer, store as experience, store as platform, store as service, store as plant). From facial recognition technology to on-demand manufacturing, XRC companies are partnering with leading edge retailers and brands to bring about transformation to an industry that needs to keep pace with the rapid changes experienced by their customers in every day life,” said Pano Anthos, Founder and Managing Director of XRC Labs. The program maintains strong focus on diversity among the founders: across the four cohorts, over 60% of founders are female and 40% are minorities. Founders hail from Chile, China, Canada, Lebanon, Israel, Wales, in addition to cities across the US.