PHOENIX, AZ (April 12, 2023) — Plug and Play celebrated the official launch of its newest location in Arizona today during an event in Phoenix alongside the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA). Last month, Plug and Play announced its expansion to Arizona. Recently, they released the names of this new location's first three founding partners: Intel, Honeywell Aerospace, and Raytheon Missiles & Defense.
“We’re incredibly excited to be working with the Arizona Commerce Authority and a truly world-class group of founding partners across the semiconductor, aerospace, and mobility industries,” said Saeed Amidi, CEO & Founder of Plug and Play. “This level of engagement is a testament to the ACA’s commitment to bringing business, innovation, and investment to the state, and we’re looking forward to accelerating entrepreneurs in Arizona.”
Partners to Plug and Play Arizona will hand-select startups to join their three-month Advanced Manufacturing program. The program's first batch will focus on startups creating solutions in workforce training, supply chain visibility, predictive maintenance, robotics, and automation. The initial 10-15 startups accepted into this program will be announced later this month.
“Today’s launch event represents a tremendous milestone for Arizona’s innovation ecosystem,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “Plug and Play Arizona builds on many years of growth in Arizona’s startup community and will help expand our global footprint. I thank Saeed Amidi and Plug and Play for their partnership and our founding corporate sponsors for their support.”
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are essential to the economic vitality of Arizona,” said John Otto, Sr. Director, Technology at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “We stand with the Arizona Commerce Authority and Plug and Play as they work to promote a vibrant business ecosystem in our communities.”
Forward-thinking corporations and startups interested in learning more about Plug and Play Arizona, please visit pnptc.com/arizona.
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're in 50+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our 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 pnptc.com
The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is the state's leading economic development organization with a streamlined mission to grow and strengthen Arizona's economy. The ACA uses a three-pronged approach to advance the overall economy: attract, expand, create - attract out-of-state companies to establish operations in Arizona; work with existing companies to grow their business in Arizona and beyond; and help entrepreneurs create new Arizona businesses in targeted industries. For more information, please visit azcommerce.com and follow the ACA on Twitter @azcommerce.