Press Release – Friday March 04, 2022
Global innovation giant Plug and Play and VC fund UM6P Ventures ink deal for a HealthTech and AgroBiosciences platform in Morocco
March 4th, 2022 : Today, VC Fund UM6P Ventures and global innovation platform, Plug and Play, are pleased to announce their strategic partnership to co-launch two new acceleration verticals AgroBiosciences and HealthTech. 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 Healthtech and AgroBiosciences, adding to the broad range of industry startups Plug and Play currently supports.
In November 2020 UM6P and OCP Group 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.
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 in the HealthTech and AgroBioscience segments 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 Healthtech and AgroBiosciences 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.” Aziz Hachem, Program Manager 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 AgroBioscience and HealthTech, 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 UM6P Ventures
UM6P Ventures is the investment arm of UM6P, founded as a vehicle for the university to advance entrepreneurship and accelerate scientific innovation in Morocco and Africa, backed by the OCP Group. It is a seed-stage ventures firm that caters to innovators and entrepreneurs in the fields of science and technology and invests in startups from their creation to Series A funding.
UM6P Ventures provides early ventures with advanced infrastructure, platforms, talent, and programs native to UM6P. It builds explicit pathways to transition incubated or demonstrator projects to investable assets and brokers subsequent funding in capital markets.
In partnership with its ecosystem network of programs including incubators, accelerators, and investors such as business angels and venture capital firms, UM6P Ventures provides an unmatched ability to fund, build and accelerate assets out of projects. UM6P Ventures has a robust ecosystem and an investment portfolio actively invested in AgroBiosciences, HealthTech, Energy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Industry 4.0.
About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley. Plug and Play leverages accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and its independent venture capital arm to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 30 locations globally, giving startups the necessary resources to find mentorship, funding, and business development opportunities almost anywhere without cost or equity taken. With the largest tech startup/scale-up network and 450+ official corporate and government partners, we have created the ultimate innovation ecosystem in over 18 industries. Startups from our independent venture capital arm have raised over $9 billion in funding, with over a dozen successful unicorn portfolio exits including Dropbox, PayPal, Guardant Health, Honey and Lending Club. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/