Monthly Archives: June 2012

MobileBeat is Coming! Are You Ready?

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Our friends at VentureBeat are holding their 5th annual MobileBeat, July 10 – 11th (San Francisco). The event will feature the most elite minds, to debate how design is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy. And, if you use the code “VB-Plug” you’ll get 20% off! http://bit.ly/upFTyS

Speakers Include:

- Mark Pincus, Founder, CEO & CPO, Zynga

- Dave Morin, Co-Founder & CEO, Path

- Hill Ferguson, Head of Mobile, Paypal

- Mark Curtis, Founder, Fjord

- Chris Weber, President (US), Nokia

- Scott Dadich, VP Digital Development, Conde Nast

- Jason Spero, Head of Mobile, Google

You’ll learn firsthand where the biggest opportunities lie, the pitfalls to avoid, and how to position your company to win on the new “design” battleground.

Sub themes include: tablets, consumerization of IT, infrastructure/cloud, monetization, retail, and designing distribution.

So whether you’re an enterprise company, publisher, developer, marketer, service, vendor, brand/retailer or infrastructure player, design is something you can no longer ignore. Join us for two days packed with insightful content and high-level networking opps!

Plug and Play and Global Venture Alliance Launch Startup Accelerator in Moscow

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Plug and Play Tech Center, in partnership with Global Venture Alliance (GVA) and the Government of Moscow, today announces the launch of their Russian acceleration program, Plug and Play Moscow. The accelerator is designed to identify, support and grow Russian-­‐based tech startups through six-­‐month programs, raise investment funds and also provide a launchpad for international companies looking to expand in Russian markets. The acceleration programs will kick off in Russia and continue in the Silicon Valley, where promising startups will get a chance to be funded by Plug and Play and other investors.

“Supporting entrepreneurs is Plug and Play’s top priority,” says Jupe Tan, Vice President of International Operations for Plug and Play Tech Center. “The goal of Plug and Play Moscow is to accelerate Russian entrepreneurs by connecting them with the Silicon Valley’s resources and world-­‐famous ecosystem. We are excited about the potential we see here and with our partnership with Global Venture Alliance. “

The launch of Plug and Play Moscow strategically follows the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, attended by top political and business leaders from across the globe. Launch event speakers include: Sergei Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow City; Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia; Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; and Vijay Parikh, Partner at Global Catalyst Partners.
Plug and Play Moscow facilities provide co-­‐working environments for tech startups as well as a permanent venue for education, events and conferences. An additional goal for Plug and Play Moscow is to raise an investment fund for U.S. and Russian tech startups. To date, two investments have been made, one in Russia (TravelTipz) and another in U.S. (Virool).

About Plug and Play Tech Center
Plug and Play Tech Center is a business accelerator that specializes in growing tech startups. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, Plug and Play’s global network includes over 300 tech startups, 180 investors and a community of leading universities and corporate partners. From unique industry networking events, education and immersion programs to M&A, Plug and Play has everything tech startups need to get organized, connect and grow.

About GVA
GVA is a complete innovation ecosystem that includes financial instruments and technology business acceleration services for the full business cycle of technology companies. GVA’s main priorities are to include technology transfer made from the Silicon Valley to Russia, BRIC and the CIS; provision of access to global venture capital for fast growing high-­‐tech companies; and their integration of such companies into the world’s innovative society.

Three Top Tech Startups Emerge from Summer Expo at Plug and Play

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Competition is fierce in the tech startup space yet few venues showcase new talent quite like Plug and Play’s quarterly EXPO. Last Thursday, over 500 attendees poured into Plug and Play Tech Center’s Sunnyvale headquarters to watch new tech startups compete. The event also featured a VC Panel with Ajay Agarwal, Jim Barnett, Kamran Elahian and Sumeet Jain. Robert Goldberg of Zynga gave the keynote and VIP judges hailed from companies like Adobe, Cisco, GoDaddy.com, Honda, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Warner Brothers and Yahoo!.

“Imagine what American Idol would look like if it were looking for the best tech startups instead of pop singers; that’s pretty much what Plug and Play’s EXPO is,” said Saeed Amidi, CEO and Co-Founder of the startup accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center. “We look for entrepreneurs from all over the world, they submit their companies, we choose thirty of the best, they audition before our audience, and our judges vote to decide who wins.”

This year’s Summer EXPO winners are the mobile music learning platform Music Prodigy – whose founder, Hreold Lee, wowed the audience with his electric guitar playing – Seattle based mobile sales platform OfferUp and the big data analytics company Skytree.

Music Prodigy

Sherman Oaks based Music Prodigy is a self-proclaimed “Gamified Rosetta Stone for Music.” As it says Music Prodigy’s site, “Our mission is to create more music, by creating more musicians… by making learning music easier, faster and more fun. - We are a young company. It had to be that way. The technology, processing power, algorithms… they didn’t exist before. And now that they do, we are not stopping with just guitar.”

OfferUp

OfferUp’s creators sought to make the process of buying and selling goods frictionless, fast and mobile. By offering a simple selling solution, they’re helping people answer the question, “what do I do with all of the stuff I’m not using?” While presenting onstage at Summer EXPO, company President and CEO, Nick Huzar used the last thirty seconds at the end of his presentation to showcase OfferUp by taking a picture of Plug and Play’s EXPO podium and offering it for sale on his platform.

SkyTree

San Jose based Skytree is in the business of machine learning – the science of discovering patterns and making predictions from complex data. Skytree’s servers are designed to help companies make sense of everything from retail and marketing to pharmaceuticals and astronomy. When asked about his experience with EXPO, Skytree CEO and Co-Founder Martin Hack said, “Plug and Play EXPO is fantastic, not only for the Silicon Valley but for the entire startup community.”

The Competition at EXPO

This year’s competition included 27 other new startups like the social gifting company BeeBox, viral marketing platform Brandvocat and Gen4Web an upcoming social mobile game developer founded by fifteen-year-old Stanford hopeful Eric Manalac.

“There are two reasons why EXPO is great,” says Alireza Masour, Plug and Play’s Vice President of Technology Investments, “one is that it gives entrepreneurs with new ideas a chance to showcase their startups, and two – you never know what you’re going to find. You may find the next Mark Zuckerberg. You may help launch a new technology that will change people’s lives. The possibilities are endless.”