9milegroup1photo
The first cohort at 9Mile Labs

There’s a lot of chatter these days about the “consumerization of the enterprise” — this notion that business software will follow the path of consumer-oriented technologies with new products that are based in the cloud and dead simple to use.

That trend has already set off a wave of investment and innovation in enterprise software, one of the areas that Seattle business-to-business accelerator 9Mile Labs hopes to capitalize on.

The newly-formed organization — which launched its first group of nine companies in September — is now getting bigger. Today, 9Mile is announcing that it has raised $900,000, money that it will use to support its second cohort of companies.

The money will go directly to the startups, with 9Mile boosting its individual company investment from $20,000 to $35,000. It is also shortening the formal incubation process to four months, down from six. Additional money will be used to bring in experienced professionals in the areas of finance, marketing and sales that will assist startups in the program.

With the new funding of $35,000 per company, 9Mile will take an eight percent equity stake across the board, whereas it previously took between four and eight percent.

9Mile_LABS-New logoThis marks the first formal outside fundraising effort for 9Mile, whose partners used their own cash to get the first group off the ground.

“We feel that the investors appreciate that we validated the model on our own dime and are now ready to go make a big impact on the startups in the program,” said partner Sanjay Puri.

Located inside SURF Incubator in downtown Seattle (Yes, it is an incubator inside an incubator), 9Mile is led by Puri; Kevin Croy; Enrique Godreau; Tom Casey and Sandy Sharma. Backers of the new fund include former Facebook general counsel Rudy Gadre and others.

Applications for 9Mile’s second cohort close on Nov. 18th, with the next program starting on Jan. 15th.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.