Plug and Play Tech Center took a small step back to normalcy this week — or maybe toward what will become the new normal.
The 15-year-old startup accelerator and investment company held its Fall Summit from Tuesday to Thursday, showcasing its latest group of nascent companies. Unlike other such events it's held since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this one was partially held in person. While Plug and Play streamed video of the summit over its website, it also hosted a handful of staff and VIPs in person at its Sunnyvale headquarters.
"After remaining completely virtual for the past year and a half, it was exciting to present live on stage," Saeed Amidi, Plug and Play's CEO, said in an emailed statement.
Some 92 startups, 11 of them from the Bay Area, took part in the company's latest summit. Plug and Play, which works closely with big corporations seeking to pair up with innovative startups, grouped the young companies in six sectors: agriculture technology; brand and retail; food and beverage; media and advertising; new materials and packaging; and supply chain.
Plug and Play, which hosts events around the world in addition to four seasonal summits at its headquarters, has been trying to hold more in-person gatherings, Amidi said at the event. But the Covid-19 pandemic may have permanently changed how it hosts conferences, he said. At some recent gatherings in Europe, the company had 50 to 60 people in person while another 500 to 600 tuned in online, he said.
"I think this is going to be the future," Amidi said at the company's Fall Summit. "We all have to get used to some online-offline events."
Here's more on the five Bay Area companies that gave presentations this week at Plug and Play's event:
- Retail Zipline Inc., San Francisco: Provider of a task assignment and management-employee communications app for retailers. Among its customers are L.L.Bean Inc., Beverages & More Inc., Torrid LLC, MM Enterprises USA LLC (better known as MedMen) and 24 Hour Fitness USA LLC.
- Saara Inc., Fremont: Provider of an artificial-intelligence powered service designed to help e-commerce companies prevent and automate item returns.
- Full Cycle Bioplastics LLC, San Jose: Developer of a process that turns organic waste, such as non-edible food waste, into a plastic called polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA. The PHA can then be used to create new plastic products, which can either be recycled at their end of their life or will degrade naturally in the environment.
- Ting.io, Bay Area: Provider of a data analysis and social media management service for online creators.
- Nate Inc. (dba DeepMedia), Oakland: Developer of a suite of artificial intelligence-backed video-related apps, including DeepRestore, which converts low-quality footage to 4K quality; CopyCat, which offers language translation; and DeepDetect, which helps identify deepfake videos.
Six other local companies took part in the summit, but didn't make a presentation. Among them was:
- Change Foods Inc., Palo Alto: Developer dairy-free, microbe-produced artificial milk and cheese. It plans to have its non-dairy cheese on the market by 2023.
