Plug and Play launches food and ag-tech accelerator in Asia

  • 23 July 2020
  • Investor
It’s the first sector-wide business accelerator that the Silicon Valley-headquartered platform brings to Thailand
Thailand city skyline

Silicon Valley business platform Plug and Play is set to launch its first Southeast Asia’s Food and AgTech Accelerator Programme. Operated by Plug and Play Asia Pacific, the initiative is scheduled to kick-off in Bangkok on 29 July.

The programme is dedicated to scaling the world’s most promising start-ups who can help address the current challenges across the food production value chain from farm to table.

“We are very excited to bring about a new innovation track in food and ag-tech after the success of our Smart Cities Program,” said Shawn Dehpanah, head of corporate innovation APAC at Plug and Play.

Dehpanah said the organisation plans to source and engage the most innovative start-ups to digitally transform corporations and provide new opportunities for investments in the ASEAN region.

Plug and Play’s Food and AgTech Accelerator Program in Thailand has been designed to connect corporations, governments, and investors with the Plug and Play ecosystem, which is made of more than 20,000 start-ups, with technologies ranging from digital to sustainable farming, feed and animal health, food processing, microbiome, personalised nutrition, supply chain logistics, waste reduction, consumer analytics and retail.

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley. Since its inception in 2006, the organisation has conducted accelerator programmes in 30 locations globally, giving start-ups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond.

The Asia Pacific headquarters was established in 2010 in Singapore.

Since then we have expanded our programs and activities to Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. With over 10,000 startups and 400 corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem. Companies in our community have raised over US$9 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Rappi, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal.