Teltoo, a startup focused on bringing scale to OTT-delivered live video services, has moved to the U.S. and opened a headquarters in Boulder, Colo.

The company, which will continue to keep its technical team based in Madrid, Spain, said it has also raised a round of funding. The amount has not been disclosed, but the company confirmed that Liberty Global is among Teltoo’s financial backers.

The move to Boulder also follows Teltoo’s involvement in UpRamp’s “Fiterator” program. That initiative, run by the CableLabs-backed startup accelerator, enables its selections to get exposure with cable operators alongside guaranteed commercial deals. In exchange, UpRamp gets a small equity stake (typically in the form of warrants) in the startups selected for the program.

RELATED: Four Startups Picked for CableLabs-Backed UpRamp Program

Teltoo completed the Fiterator program late last year.

Being in Boulder will keep Teltoo close to CableLabs, which is based in nearby Louisville, a growing tech startup community that has found a home in the Denver area, as well as content delivery companies such as CenturyLink (which now owns what used to be Level3 Communications, based in Broomfield), and Fastly, which has a presence in the Mile High City.

“Overall, we saw this was a good place to be,” Teltoo co-founder and CEO (and a former HP employee) Pablo Hesse said.

Teltoo, he said, has started a search for a COO and another sales exec to be based in the Colorado office.

Teltoo is focused on a software-driven, distributed architecture that can scale and improve the performance of live video streaming while also helping service providers conserve bandwidth. Per an earlier discussion with the company, Teltoo’s approach involves a small piece of JavaScript that is installed on the partner’s streaming video player for web browsers, mobile devices and even TV-connected devices. Working in tandem with servers, the platform manages the connections while a live stream is being delivered.

RELATED: Startup Pitches Cable-Friendly P2P Play

Liberty Global and RTVE, Spain’s state broadcaster, are among those that have been working with Teltoo in the early going. 

CableLabs has promoted Rachel Beisel to senior vice president and chief marketing officer, a move that comes more than a year after she joined the Louisville, Colo.-based organization as VP of marketing and communications.  

In this expanded role, Beisel said her top priority is focused on adding “more depth and breadth in our membership,” noting that CableLabs has divergent stakeholders that go beyond service providers to include vendors, the startup community (via its UpRamp program), outside the industry (with its Kyrio unit), as well as with licensing and standards bodies and other organizations.  

RELATED: Wireless Is Waxing at CableLabs’ Kyrio Unit 

She said CableLabs will also look to deepen its collaboration with industry organizations such as SCTE/ISBE, CTAM and the NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association.  

“We are evaluating the different channels in which we communicate,” Beisel said.  

She will also be more focused on events and events strategy, as those functions been rolled up into the marketing and communications division of CableLabs, which hosted an Inform[ED] event earlier this month in London.  

Beisel, who hails from Nashville, is also a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado-Boulder in the MBA program, focusing on how technology has becoming an increasingly important part of modern marketing programs.  

She’s also a cycling enthusiast. In addition to entering events (next month’s Haute Route event in Colorado is on the docket), Beisel also works with blind and visually impaired athletes, piloting/guiding them on tandem bikes, and last year was part of a tandem that won a national championship title for the Hill Climb National Championship race at Pikes Peak.  

UpRamp, the CableLabs-backed accelerator for startups, said it has opened up applications for the third cohort of its 14-week “Fiterator” program.

UpRamp has set a May 4 deadline for applications.

RELATED: Startup Pitches Cable-Friendly P2P Play (subscription required)

UpRamp, a program introduced in February 2016, enables its cohort selections to get valuable exposure with cable operators and guaranteed commercial deals. In exchange, UpRamp gets a small equity stake (as warrants) in the startups that are selected.

RELATED: UpRamp Gets Small Stake in Startup Selections

Here’s a snapshot of startups from the first two cohorts that completed UpRamp’s Fiterator program:

-Teltoo: Software-based solution to help MSOs distribute live OTT video at scale. 

-DeviceBits: A.I.-focused customer service software.

-Bansen Labs: Focused on improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, its first product, Xogo, works with devices such as set-tops and gaming consoles.

-MediaHound: Personalized video search and discovery.

-Edgewater Wireless: WiFi infrastructure.

-VelociData: Advanced data services

-Trinity Mobile Networks: Focused on the integration of WiFi and mesh networks alongside cellular connections).

Verizon Ventures is among a group that recently plowed $3.2 million into Streamroot, a startup that’s focused on a P2P-style “distributed” OTT video delivery platform that offers an alternative to more traditional server-based content delivery networks.

The Verizon VC was joined in the round by Partech Ventures, Techstars Venture Capital Fund, and R/GA.

Founded in 2013, France-based Streamroot has raised $6 million so far and counts Dailymotion, Canal+, Eurosport (part of the Discovery Communications group), and Russia Today as announced customers. The company estimates that it’s powering more than 400 million video session per month, and that 50% to 80% of its customers’ traffic is being delivered through its distributed architecture.

Streamroot sells a WebRTC-based P2P delivery system, holding that the efficiency of its approach can help online video achieve massive scale. Per its site, it offers flat-fee pricing that’s “akin to traditional satellite or television broadcasting.”

Others in the service provider sector are keeping a close eye on friendly forms of P2P.

Of recent note, UpRamp, the CableLabs-backed accelerator program, recently added Teltoo, a P2P tech startup, to a group that will be part of its “Fiterator” program.

RELATED: Four Startups Picked for CableLabs-Backed UpRamp Program

Teltoo, based in Madrid, Spain, is also looking to bring managed P2P into the streaming conversation with a scalable, ISP-friendly approach for delivering OTT at scale. Teltoo implements a small piece of JavaScript on its partner’s streaming video player for everything from laptops, to mobile devices and even set-top boxes. In tandem, those players are connected using WebRTC. Behind that is a server that represents the “brain” of the solution and manages the connections while a live stream is being delivered.

“This is a technology for cable operators and traditional broadcasters to help them to distribute streams over the internet,” and do so without buffering or other types of technical interruptions, company co-founder and CEO Pablo Hesse explained in this recent interview (subscription required).

Liberty Global and RTVE, Spain’s state broadcaster, are among Teltoo's known customers. 

UpRamp, the CableLabs-backed accelerator program, has revealed another group of four startups that have been selected for its “Fiterator” program.

That group, representing UpRamp’s second “cohort,” is focused on areas such as cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, accessibility, A.I., and P2P-powered video content delivery.

-Teltoo: a startup that uses peer-to-peer technologies, aimed at cable operators, to eliminate buffering and reduce bandwidth requirements.

-DeviceBits: a software company focused on A.I.-driven customer service for consumers and agents that claims to go a step beyond “chatbots” that are widely used today.

-Bansen Labs: focused on improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, its first product, Xogo, works with devices such as set-tops and gaming consoles. In February, Bansen Labs was also the winner of the CableLabs Innovation Showcase, held in conjunction with the CableLabs Winter Conference.

-King & Union: Aimed at cybersecurity, its “Avalon” platform establishes an intelligence-sharing ecosystem using a collaborative “virtual” approach that automates manual analysis processes.

UpRamp announced its picks amid this week’s CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colo.

UpRamp, a program introduced in February 2016, enables its cohort selections to get valuable exposure with cable operators and guaranteed commercial deals. In exchange, UpRamp gets a small equity stake (as warrants) in the startups that are selected.

RELATED: UpRamp Gets Small Stake in Startup Selections

UpRamp’s first cohort, announced last August, included MediaHound (personalized video search and discovery); Edgewater Wireless (WiFi infrastructure), VelociData (advanced data services); and Trinity Mobile Networks (focused on the integration of WiFi and mesh networks alongside cellular connections).

Separately, UpRamp and Boomtown Accelerator have forged a three-year parnership under which they are selecting and helping a mix of early stage startups that are focused on connected devices and software. That program is based at Boomtown’s headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and utilizes a Connectivity Lab there that is sponsored by Comcast Labs.

UpRamp, a subsidiary of CableLabs, and Boomtown Accelerator have struck a three-year partnership under which they will select and help an array of early stage startups that are focused on connected devices and software.

The program will originate from Boomtown’s headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and utilize a Connectivity Lab there that is being sponsored by Comcast Labs.

UpRamp and Boomtown plan to select six “cohorts,” or group of about ten to 12 startups, over the next three years that will go through a 12-week program/curriculum to help those companies reach the next level in their development.  

"We will invest in approximately 20 early stage startups over those three years,” Toby Krout,  Boomtown’s executive director, said. “Boomtown will be the operator of the accelerator. We're aiming for companies that are in the cable broadband connectivity space and we'll be making co-investments with UpRamp."

"The focus here is on hardware and connectivity startups," added Scott Brown, UpRamp’s executive director. "It's part of the reason why we're excited about this partnership with Boomtown -- their ability to find young and emerging startups, [people] with a dream and a couple of slides in this space, that can have a real material impact on the subscribers across our 57 members around the world and how we can pull those software-based and hardware-based startups into our ecosystem." 

The application process for the first group, open to startups in the U.S. and abroad, is now underway, and UpRamp and Boomtown expect to make their first picks this summer and conduct the first cohort this fall.

In exchange for the 12-week program and typically $20,000 in seed capital, UpRamp and Boomtown will share in up to a 6% equity stake in each startup that is selected. That sort of equity arrangement is similar to the approach UpRamp takes with its “Fiterator” program, in which the CableLabs subsidiary gets a small stake in selected startups and a guarantee that selected companies come out of it with valuable exposure and commercial deals with cable operators.

RELATED: UpRamp Gets Small Stake In Startup Selections

The partnership is focused on very young companies that are just getting their feet under them and a program that could serve as a stepping stone to UpRamp's Fiterator program. 

"We see the Boomtown relationship as kind of a feeder organization into the UpRamp Fiterator program, but it's not guaranteed" Brown said, holding that the Boomtown process is designed in part to help those startups prove out their central idea.

UpRamp announced its first Fiterator class last August, and recently said that its first four graduating teams now have 18 engagements with cable and broadband operators. UpRamp has started to accept applications for its fall 2017 program, which requires that companies have more than $1.5 million in financing or “sustainable revenue” and a working product or service that fits with the cable, broadband and wireless industry.

RELATED: CableLabs-Backed UpRamp Program Reveals Startup Picks

The Boomtown/UpRamp curriculum will focus on “founder preparedness" in that it will get the founder or co-founders to obsess about the customer and the core problem that their company is trying to solve. The program will also provide some exec-type training so founders can a fix on how to tackle adversity and handle conflict and help young entrepreneurs, if they’re successful, get ready to run large, high-growth startups.

In addition to coming out of the program with a viable product or service that will likely attract competition, they want to cultivate a fast-moving team that knows the problem better than others so they are positioned to win the long game, Krout explained.

The program will “focus a lot on the founders themselves and the character of the founders and the team dynamics,” Krout added. “The idea, obviously, is really important as well but we're different from some accelerators in that the most important thing to us is not that they are far, far along, with traction, revenue and profitability. We think that, because we invest so much in our program -- it's constantly evolving based on feedback from every class -- that we can go earlier stage and have a bigger impact, so it's important to us that the quality of the team is top notch." 

Boomtown has invested in more than 70 companies. Earlier this year, it launched The Farm Accelerator in Atlanta with Comcast NBCUniversal’s LIFT Labs for Entrepreneurs program.

Verizon Ventures and R/GA are teaming on a program focused on helping growth and early-stage companies that are involved in “disruptive technologies” tied to digital entertainment and media consumption.

They said the focus of the Verizon Media Tech Venture Studio will be focused on, but not limited to, areas such as content creation and personalization, VR/AR, AI, image recognition, content distribution, interactive advertising, eSports, and other emerging digital media platforms.

Per the new program’s web site, Verizon Ventures and R/GA will jointly invest up to $100,000 in each selected company, and select up to ten companies for the program. “Deal terms will depend in part on the stage of each startup as well as the terms of funding raised previously by each startup,” the program Q&A reads.

Selected companies will also have access to Verizon’s tech platforms and senior product leaders at Verizon’s digital businesses, including those involved with Fios, Go90, AOL and Verizon Digital Media Services. They’ll also get a chance to work with R/GA’s strategic marketing, consulting, branding, design, and technology teams.

The program will be held at Verizon’s new co-working facility in New York City’s Flatiron district. Program participants will need to make and pay for their own living arrangements.

The Verizon Media Tech Venture Studio’s application process runs from March 10 through May 30. Selected companies will be notified on July 5. The program will start on July 31, and conclude in mid-November, culminating in an invite-only demo event, where each selected company will get a chance to present to investors, industry leaders, and the press. 

"Verizon is at the forefront of the digital media revolution and we continue to explore the next wave of media innovation,” John Doherty, SVP of corporate development at Verizon and head of Verizon Ventures, said in a statement. “The Verizon Media Tech Ventures Studio with R/GA will connect us with emerging startups that are shaping the future of this business. Verizon and R/GA have created an advanced program for startups with unparalleled access to resources, technology and intellectual capital that will accelerate their growth.”

The new program appears to have some similarities to UpRamp, an accelerator/incubator program for startups from CableLabs. Under that program, selected companies get valuable exposure with cable operators and some guaranteed commercial deals. UpRamp also asks for a small equity stake, in the form of warrants, in each private company that’s picked for the program. 

RELATED: UpRamp Gets Small Stake In Startup Selections

Xogo, a customizable adapter for people with disabilities developed by Bansen Labs,  came away with top honors at the CableLabs Innovation Showcase, being held this week in conjunction with the CableLabs Winter Conference in Orlando, Fla.

UpRamp, a CableLabs-backed program focused on tech startups, announced the selection of Xogo Tuesday on Twitter:

Congrats @myXogo for winning #innovationshowcase at @CableLabs#CLWC2017 They help #PwD overcome barriers of using consumer tech! pic.twitter.com/2iK1cq03bR

— UpRamp (@UpRamp) February 6, 2017

RELATED: UpRamp Gets Small Stake in Startup Selections

According to Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Bansen Labs, Xogo is a universal technology adapter that enables people with disabilities to connect to CE products, like gaming consoles and set-top boxes, using their own assistive technology. The Xogo adapter connects assistive devices via standard USB, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 3.5mm jack, and allows for configurations via an integrated user interface.

Per the Xogo FAQ, the adapter allows users to mix and match standard game controllers and assistive technology. Some use cases include collaborative play (working together to control one player) and full customizations that replace all of the controls of a standard controller with assistive technology.

Xogo, targeted to consumers who have trouble using a standard game controller, currently works with Xbox One and Nintendo GameCube consoles, and has plans underway to support the Xbox 360, as well as the PlayStation 3 and PS4. The company expects to adapt Xogo for other types of platforms, with cable boxes, media devices and smart home systems among the cited, future examples. Such a product could factor into the cable industry's ongoing accessibility efforts. 

RELATED: Comcast’s ‘Talking Guide’ Goes Live

Update:  The company confirmed that Xogo is  compatible with wider range of devices that currently includes the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, multiple cable boxes, TiVo boxes, and the Sphero BB-8 toy. The plan is to expand to most consumer technology devices via an open API, the company noted. 

Bansen Labs notes on the site that there is a limited number of beta units available and that the product is currently built-to-order.

Mimik, a Vancouver-based startup focused on personal media cloud technologies, won the CableLabs Innovation showcase last year.

UpRamp, an accelerator program from CableLabs launched earlier this year as an “executive MBA for startups,” has announced the first four startups selected for its “Fiterator” program.

Fiterator is a three-month, nonresident program that helps startups connect with dozens of the world’s top cable operators. And unlike traditional startup accelerators, UpRamp is for young companies that have already built their technology and those that might have already raised some venture money.

UpRamp said its Fiterator program “guarantees actual commercial deals,” and that a group of CEOs and CTOs from the industry helped to select the following four from a group of applicants that originated from 17 countries:

-Edgewater Wireless: Is trying to revolutionize WiFi infrastructure with a patented, Multichannel “WiFi3” technology powering next-gen access points, small cells, and WiFi/ DAS solutions. The company claims that WiFi3 delivers up to 50 times greater throughput vs traditional WiFi and lowers network infrastructure investment.

-MediaHound: Offers personalized search and discovery for videos using a sophisticated graph recommendation engine.

-VelociData: Cleanses, transforms, and protects streaming and batch data without the need for database or applications programming, or the need to change existing systems or infrastructure.

-Trinity Mobile Networks: Uses JumpnetSDN to integrate WiFi and mesh networks alongside their cellular connections.

UpRamp noted that applicants ranged from startups that have closed seed rounds to public companies that have raised a combined $157 million.

UpRamp, introduced in February, announced the following month that it had also opened CableLabs’s patents to program participants.  

“UpRamp from CableLabs is about helping startups to establish themselves, make connections and secure deals from leading companies in the cable industry,” CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney said in a statement. “We help them innovate and forge ahead in this huge cable industry and, at the same time, connect cable companies all over the world with next generation thinkers.”

“Our Fiterator program concentrates on small cohorts of startups, in order to give these emerging tech companies the biggest possible impact,” added Scott Brown, UpRamp’s managing director. “In addition to our focus on deals, not demo days, every company that enters the Fiterator program is granted a non-exclusive and royalty-free license to every patent in our parent company CableLabs’ portfolio.”

UpRamp timed the announcement of its picks with this week’s CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colo. 

UpRamp, an accelerator initiative introduced by CableLabs in February that's billed as an “executive MBA for startups,” said it has opened the R&D organization’s patents to program participants.

“Every company that enters the Fiterator will be granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to all CableLabs patents, with annual mutual renewal option,” Scott Brown, managing director of UpRamp, and head of technology outreach at CableLabs, explained in this blog post.

CableLabs lists its granted patents here. Patents granted to CableLabs in 2016 include those describing a “Method and system of advertising;” “Offer Inclusion For Over The Top (OTT) Content;” and “Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Communication System.”

As noted on the UpRamp site, Fiterator is a next-gen startup accelerator in the form of a three-month, non-resident program that “combines C-level mentorship from the industry with over $120k in available financing.”

“Unlike traditional startup accelerators,” it adds, “the outcome of your time in the Fiterator is actual deals & references from Fortune 1000 customers.”

Providing access to CableLabs’s intellectual property, Brown wrote, “gives any graduate of the Fiterator ‘freedom to operate’ within the scope of these highly relevant technologies. It doesn’t give you the right to go out and act like a patent troll, but it does give you IP protections to operate within some of these interesting technology areas.”

Applications for UpRamp’s Fiterator program are open through May 13.