Qumram and Squirro selected for Plug and Play accelerator program

Silicon Valley accelerator Plug and Play has revealed the elite group of startups accepted into their Fall 2017 batches. Plug and Play only accepted 3% of the qualified startups that applied to this latest cohort. Two startups in the fintech programme are representing Switzerland.

Plug and Play runs each of their 12-week industry-specific programs twice per year, accepting 10-20 startups per batch and connecting them to Plug and Play's ecosystem of 180 corporate partners and 200 venture capitalists. The startups accepted represent an international group with over a fourth of the companies from countries such as Canada, Ghana, Hong Kong, Israel, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Plug and Play works with startups at various stages of growth. The Fall 2017 batches are made up of 57% seed stage, 25% early stage, and 18% growth stage startups.

Two Swiss startups have been selected for the fintech program: Squirro and Qumram. Squirro is an advanced Context Intelligence and Insights solution that allows organizations to efficiently manage and unlock the hidden value within data. Qumram seamlessly records all digital interactions, across all channels (web, social media, mobile and instant messaging) capturing indisputable evidence to prove compliance, discover fraud, improve customer experience and open new digital channels to interact with Financial Service clients.

"After reviewing 2,800 startups, we are proud to welcome the 101 startups into our innovation platforms. Together, with our team members and community, Plug and Play's goal is to showcase the startups to at least 30 corporate partners and 30 investors per vertical in the next 100 days," comments Saeed Amidi, Founder & CEO of Plug and Play. "For us, the success of our programs can be shown by how many pilots the startups run with our partners and the amount of additional funding they raise from our VC and Angel co-investors. This gives startups the greatest opportunity to grow."

"We're ecstatic about the quality of startups we have accepted in these upcoming batches. Over the next 3 months, we will give these startups access to world-class mentors, tier one VCs, and C-level executives to propel their businesses to success," says George Damouny, Principal of Plug and Play Ventures. "As an investment group, we will have a lot of fantastic investment opportunities and I'm super excited to be working closely with these startups."

Picture: fotolia.com / gguy

(SK)