We partner with the world’s leading companies like Porsche, Alaska Airlines, and J.B. Hunt to solve complex operational problems, unlock substantial performance gains, and create immediate bottom-line impact.
Transforming Physical Industry
by Building Vertical AI Startups
UP.Labs and UP.Ventures are the go-to venture builders and capital providers and for visionary enterprises. We collaborate with the world’s leading organizations to compound innovation and build for scale. We don’t just invest in ideas. We co-create high-impact AI startups that unlock massive operational gains and radically accelerate time to value.
Our startups deliver outcomes, not just technology. We design, build and invest in vertical AI startups purpose-built to unlock substantial operational gains, and deliver real enterprise value for our corporate partners. UP.Labs’ portfolio companies produce investment-grade, industry-extensible solutions which attract top-tier entrepreneurs, CEOs, and venture capital investors.
Our startups deliver outcomes, not just technology. We design, build and invest in vertical AI startups purpose-built to unlock substantial operational gains, and deliver real enterprise value for our corporate partners. UP.Labs’ portfolio companies produce investment-grade, industry-extensible solutions which attract top-tier entrepreneurs, CEOs, and venture capital investors.
WE CONVERT
ENTERPRISE PROBLEMS
TO ENTERPRISE VALUE
Forget the old playbook of betting on external startups and hoping they fit. We start where the stakes are highest—inside your business, collaborating with senior executives and operations teams to tackle mission-critical problems that ripple across entire industry verticals. Then we craft AI-native startups, built from the ground up with best-in-class founders, vertical AI, and capital from UP.Ventures.
Unlike traditional Corporate Venture Capital or consulting models, our partners are embedded from day one. They’re equity co-owners in the startups we build, with a direct line to product design, commercialization, and eventual acquisition pathways.
The result? Aligned incentives from day one. Deeper collaboration. Shared upside. And ventures that don’t just plug into your operations—they transform them.
SIX LABS. TWO HUBS. ONE MISSION.
UP.Labs operates 6 industry-specific venture labs across our offices in the heart of Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
Automotive
Aviation
Logistics & Ground Transport
Supply Chain Mgmt & Retail
Manufacturing
Energy
OUR APPROACH
AUTOMOTIVE LAB
Building Ventures in Partnership with Porsche
Design Partner
RETAIL & SCM LAB
Building Ventures in Partnership with The Dufresne Group
Design Partner
AVIATION LAB
Building Ventures in Partnership with Alaska Airlines
Design Partner
SEE OUR VENTURES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
As featured on:
UP.Labs NEWS
The New Standard for Strategic Venture Capital: Delivering Mutual Value
In this episode of Travel Tech Insider, UP.Labs President Katelyn Foley joins leaders from F-Prime and Amadeus to explore a crucial truth: Founders need more than capital—they need leverage.
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UP.Labs is Redefining Venture Capital
Why should enterprises chase startups when you can build the one you need? In this podcast episode, Kyle Emory—Venture Head of Business & Growth at UP.Labs—pulls back the curtain on how our model is redefining corporate innovation.
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Porsche & UP.Labs Launch AutoUnify, a Revolutionary Developer Platform to Solve the Automotive Industry Data Divide
The auto industry’s multibillion dollar integration problem finds its ‘Plaid Moment’ with the first unified platform for real-time communication with retailers
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Wabash and UP.Labs to Modernize Transportation Manufacturing with AI-Powered Tools
The partnership brings intelligent automation to made-to-order trailer and truck body manufacturing
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SaySo Raises $4M to Solve Retail’s Costly Clearance Problem
SaySo partners with retailers to create co-branded, interactive shopping experiences that turn clearance into profit-driven opportunities
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Alaska Airlines and UP.Labs launch Odysee, an AI-enabled startup taking a new approach to schedule optimization
Odysee is an innovative, new flight schedule optimization software platform that leverages AI and big data to optimize asset configuration for the airline industry and other logistics operators.
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ENGINEERED FOR IMPACT. GUIDED BY EXPERTS.
THE UP.ECOSYSTEM
Our team is a core pillar of the UP.Partners ecosystem, a California-based community dedicated to transforming the moving world. UP.Partners and UP.Summit support the UP.Labs vision to create disruptive new startups and believe this to be the shortest road to a faster, cleaner, safer, and more accessible future.
THE VENTURE FUND
Investing in entrepreneurs building enabling tech that moves people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and more efficiently.
The Venture Lab
A first-of-its-kind venture lab that builds startups to solve pressing strategic challenges our corporate partners & broader society face.
The Summit
UP.Summit gathers top innovators, companies, CEOs, and policymakers in transportation, cohosted with the Walton and Perot families.
MEET THE TEAM
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John Kuolt IV
Founder & CEO
UP.Labs
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Patrick Pettay
CFO & Head of Growth
UP.Labs
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Steve McGrath
Chief Commercial Officer
UP.Labs
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Louis Matthews
president, retail & manufacturing
UP.Labs
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Sid Shah
President of Energy & Logistics
UP.Labs
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Kristine Pachuta
Venture CEO & Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Rob Patrick
Venture CTO
UP.Labs
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Jess Hollins
Venture Head of Business Operations & Growth
UP.Labs
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Jonathan Meyrowitz
VP, Talent Acquisition & People
UP.Labs
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Kieran Smith
VENTURE DATA SCIENCE LEAD
UP.LABS
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Joe Gillette
DESIGN DIRECTOR
UP.Labs
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Jacob Maestas
Head of Operations
UP.Labs
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Ankita Chadha
Venture Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Henry Pray
Venture Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Andre Rabold
Venture CTO
UP.Labs
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Amin Einakian
VENTURE HEAD OF PRODUCT
UP.Labs
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Kyle Emory
Venture Head of Business & Growth
UP.Labs
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Niall Sohan
Venture Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Tyler Watson
Venture Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Adam Aren
Venture Head of Business & Growth
UP.Labs
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Antwoine Flowers
Venture Data Science Lead
UP.Labs
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Jesse Silverman
Head of Portfolio Talent
UP.Labs
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Alejandro Calderon
Venture Head of Business & Growth
UP.Labs
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Jordan Syms
Marketing Lead
UP.LABS
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Max Kostin
Venture Head of Engineering
UP.Labs
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Stefan Teulon
Venture Head of Product
UP.Labs
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Luom Cooper
Executive Assistant
UP.Labs
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Carrie Follo
Head of People Operations
UP.Labs
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Halley Sprung
Office Manager
UP.Labs
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Phil Aiken
Head of FP&A and Accounting
UP.Labs
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Jim Payne
Board & Investment Committee Member
UP.Labs
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Raj Ponnusamy
VENTURE CTO
UP.LABS
REWRITE THE RULES OF HOW THE WORLD MOVES
Explore roles across our operations team, industry venture labs, or portfolio companies.
