Global Innovation Giant, Plug and Play, Inks Deal with UM6P Ventures for a Health and Agtech Platform in Morocco

RABAT, MOROCCO, March 7th, 2022 - Today, UM6P Ventures and global innovation platform, Plug and Play, are pleased to announce their strategic partnership to co-launch two new acceleration verticals Agtech and Health. Plug and Play Morocco will join hands with UM6P Ventures, the investment arm of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic university, to build on their startup acceleration program and include tailor made support for startups with a focus on Health and Agtech, adding to the broad range of industry startups Plug and Play currently supports.

Plug and Play kicked off their operations in Morocco in November 2020, as part of a partnership with UM6P and OCP Group, with a vision to make Morocco the premiere destination for startups in the region and boost the local startup ecosystem through by bringing the unrivaled tech expertise of Silicon valley to the kingdom.

In November 2020 StartGate, the UM6P’s startup campus committed to providing world-class infrastructure and resources to support entrepreneurs launch, prototype and grow their startups - and to an array of living laboratories in the Green City of Ben Guerir, partnered with Plug and Play as part of a shared vision to make Morocco the premiere destination for startups in the region and boost the local startup ecosystem with the unrivaled tech expertise of Silicon Valley to the kingdom.

As an expansion of the current relationship between Plug and Play and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, UM6P Ventures, the investment arm of UM6P, will support the advancement and invest in startups that have a focus in healthtech, agrobiosciences, and the likes, by providing tailored mentorship with specialized subject matter expertise, infrastructure, and capital imperative to the transition from lab-to-market in these industries.

“Beyond our capacity as a co-investor, we are thrilled to be able to jointly launch two verticals dedicated to deeptech where we can contribute a comprehensive science-based support system to the accelerator program,” said Yasser Biaz, CEO UM6P Ventures

The Plug and Play accelerator programs offer diverse growth opportunities by providing the necessary resources for startups to scale their businesses. With a vast network of mentors, investors, leading corporations and beyond, startups can make the most of workshops, networking events, one-on-one mentoring sessions, industry specific meetups and large scale events such as expo days providing founders and their teams with a thorough and incomparable experience. The three-month accelerator encompasses four periods of in-person intensive acceleration. Startups will benefit from 40+ hours of workshops and 150+ hours of one-on-one mentoring, and access to StartGate, UM6P’s startup campus committed to providing world-class infrastructure and resources to support entrepreneurs.

Now, with UM6P Ventures, the joint accelerator program will allow startups with solutions in health and agtech to have access to prototyping, testing, validation and production through the state of the art living lab facilities offered through the UM6P ecosystem. In addition to access to early stage capital, UM6P Ventures will offer a host of science related and business resources and legal expertise to help startups protect valuable intellectual property.

“At Plug and Play, we are ardent advocates of open innovation, the needs for which have now been made even more apparent. Our partnership with UM6P Ventures will help create opportunities for both the Moroccan and African startup ecosystems. We are excited about what's to come,” said Aziz El Hachem, Director at Plug and Play Morocco.

UM6P Ventures will participate in the upcoming three month Plug and Play Smart Cities Batch 3 Accelerator Program. In addition to the standard program, we will be kicking off the batch with a private selection day event on March 4, 2022. Startups in Agtech and Health, carefully selected by experts from both organizations in these respective fields, will pitch their businesses to have the opportunity to participate in the batch 3 program commencing on March 10, 2022.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 35+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

Contact:

Wissal Bentaleb - w.bentaleb@pnptc.com