These 3 DC startups are going to Atlanta for a Coca-Cola commercialization program

What could startups achieve if given direct access to large corporations? What could these corporations do if introduced to the energy and innovation coming from startups? And what could this cross-collaboration mean for cities?

Three D.C. startups are heading to Atlanta to find out.

That’s because they’re part of the 2017 cohort of BridgeCommunity, a Coca-Cola Company commercialization program. The Bridge began in 2014 as a collaboration between Coca-Cola and Tel Aviv, and has now spun off into a North America program based in Atlanta (that’s BridgeCommunity).

Essentially it works like this: on the one hand BridgeCommunity consists of an “exclusive set of large corporations” like Porsche, The Weather Company, InterContinental Hotels Group and more. As part of BridgeCommunity, these corporations get coached on streamlining acquisition processes and more that could make it easier for them to work with startups. Then on the other hand, BridgeCommunity brings in cohorts of early-stage startups for a six month, accelerator-like program. The startups get training to help them understand where the corporations are coming from and what their needs are.

The BridgeCommunity website puts it this way: “Our program is designed to engineer and accelerate startup and corporate relationships.”

(Editor’s note: Our Tomorrow Tour, produced in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, found this dynamic to be one of ATL’s core strengths.)

It’s an interesting program, especially for a city like Atlanta where so many big corporations are based. And apparently it’s interesting enough to lure three D.C. startups down south — MARK Labs, Starling Trust and DasDak are among the 22 startups in the new cohort.