Plug and Play’s Indonesian program is accepting applications

Saeed Amidi, co-founder of Plug and Play and legendary startup investor. Photo credit: Robert Scoble.

Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Plug and Play has opened up a branch in Jakarta and is recruiting startups to join its first batch.

Plug and Play has been around since 2006. Hundreds of companies have run through its program – including Dropbox and Lending Club.

The name Plug and Play is connected with its co-founder Saeed Amidi, a unique figure who has been called “Silicon Valley’s hottest matchmaker“.

Coming from a family of Iranian carpet dealers, he built a large network in Silicon Valley, and proved to have an exceptional sense for scouting out promising entrepreneurs. Most notably, Amidi participated in PayPal’s first round of investment.

In Indonesia, Plug and Play partnered with Gan Kapital – an investment firm with interests in traditional industries like mining, oil and gas, as well as infrastructure development. It wants to attract startups in mobile development and fintech.

Gan Kapital’s Wesley Harjono also acts as managing director of Plug and Play Indonesia, while Nayoko Kho, formerly the CEO of local services marketplace Seekmi, heads the accelerator.

Hits and misses

Plug and Play launched programs under its name across the globe, including in Malaysia and Singapore, prior to Indonesia. It usually partners with a local company. But not all of them turned into long-lasting collaborations.

For example, SPH Plug and Play, the startup accelerator of Singapore’s largest newspaper publisher, was declared dead last month after running for just under two years.

But Plug and Play is still running an accelerator in Singapore via a collaboration with Mercedes-Benz.

Tech in Asia has reached out to Plug and Play Indonesia for more details.