UP.Labs Named to Fast Company's Annual List of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In just one year since its inception, UP.Labs has been named to Fast Company's prestigious annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023, securing the spot of No. 7 in the Business Services category for paving a new path in corporate innovation.

This year's list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.

"At UP.Labs, we work relentlessly in pursuit of one goal: to transform the moving world," said John Kuolt, CEO and Founder of UP.Labs. "It's been a little over a year since we launched, and I'm proud of the progress we've made and the startups our team has been scaling behind the scenes and soon to be launched. Our team is honored to be named to Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for our breakthroughs in corporate innovation. We look forward to building on this momentum and continuing this journey with even more leading corporations and entrepreneurs."

"There is a funny conundrum in the world. Before we created UP.Labs, there was no mechanism to get the best entrepreneurs in the world, aligned with the core, strategic challenges & opportunities of large corporations, said John Kuolt, CEO and Founder of UP.Labs. We believe deeply that if we do this, large corporations will start thinking like software companies (think how great your life is with Apple & Google) and humanity reaps the benefits. We believe this to be the shortest path to a faster, cleaner, safer, and more accessible future."

UP.Labs, a key pillar of mobility investment firm UP.Partners, is a first-of-its-kind venture lab that utilizes a bespoke financial instrument (CIVA) to unlock innovation for corporations who have the scale and resources to transform the mobility industry, but lack the entrepreneurial talent to do it on their own, by inventing and incubating growth startups that bring strategic value to the core business. UP.Labs believes in order to have the biggest impact on the most important problems we face as a society, we need to connect the reach and scale of leading corporations with the world's best entrepreneurs to create maximum impact.

Over the past 13 months, the UP.Labs team has been hard at work alongside its inaugural corporate partner, Porsche, and another large retailer, with more corporate partner announcements slated to go public later this year. Behind the scenes, the team has been working closely with corporate partners to ideate, build, and launch these needle-moving startups.

UP.Labs has hired an entrepreneurial team with leadership experience spanning from Apple, Hulu, Tesla, Amazon, Walmart Innovation, Bain, and other Fortune 50 organizations. The company is actively building out its team of entrepreneurs and technologists to help build "Hell Yes!" companies and transform the moving world.

UP.Labs is part of UP.Partners ? a multi-strategy firm who's mission is to Transform the Moving World by building and investing in companies that move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and at lower cost ? on the ground, in the air, on the sea, and in space. UP.Partners achieves this goal through its unique and virtuous ecosystem encompassing UP.Ventures, UP.Labs, and UP.Summit. UP.Ventures invests in companies and technologies to enable the future of mobility, working with some of the world's most innovative investors and entrepreneurs. The UP.Summit is an invitation-only gathering co-hosted with Tom and Steuart Walton and Ross Perot Jr., in Bentonville, AR and Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX respectively, bringing together the world's most innovative minds to rethink the future of transportation.

The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

ABOUT UP.Labs
UP.Labs is a first of its kind Venture Lab using a new venture model to solve core problems for the world's most important corporations in the mobility world. By bringing together world-class business leaders, investors and corporate partners, UP.Labs unlocks innovation for corporations who have the scale and resources but cannot do it on their own. Recognizing that transportation is the underlying fabric of society, UP.Labs utilizes these strategic partnerships to rapidly ideate, build and scale disruptive startups transforming the way we move people and goods to be cleaner, faster, safer, and at lower cost. To learn more visit https://up.partners/labs/

ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

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