Claro and Silicon Valley's Plug and Play, announce partnership to advance innovation in Colombia

- Plug and Play is a global innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley that has built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Successful Plug and Play investments include Rappi, Dropbox and PayPal, among others.

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Plug and Play

Jun 13, 2019, 16:00 ET

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, June 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Claro Colombia became the first Latin American Telco company and the fourth in the world to make a strategic alliance with Plug and Play, one of the main innovation ecosystems located in Silicon Valley, which connects and accelerates startups and corporations from different industries.

Thanks to this joint collaboration, Claro will continue reaffirming its innovation strategy in the country, focused on identifying high-impact ventures that strengthen the consolidation of new technologies, solutions and business models.

The Claro Colombia team visits Plug and Play in Silicon Valley to abound their partnership. From left to right: Carolina Mariño (Director of LATAM, Plug and Play), Sobhan Khani (Global Head of IoT & Mobility, Plug and Play), Andres Zuluaga (Innovation Manager, Claro), Saeed Amidi (Founder & CEO, Plug and Play), Carlos Mario Guevara (CIO, Claro), Jackie Hernandez (Senior VP of Global Partnerships, Plug and Play).

Felipe Villa Murra, Director of Marketing and Digital Transformation of Claro, said that "innovation is part of the Claro culture, therefore, joining the Plug and Play ecosystem will help us continue working on the early identification of new opportunities and search of disruptive technologies to provide the best solutions for all our customers, from individual plans to residential users, to commercial customers. Claro will work hand in hand with the best global startups in Silicon Valley and the well-known talent of Colombian entrepreneurs."

"Claro is aligning its goals to those of the National Government for developing the 'Orange Economy' and the Fourth Industrial Revolution to support creativity and innovation. We want to adhere to those initiatives to help young entrepreneurs create new projects and develop better opportunities to foster Colombia's ecosystem as one of the best startup hubs in LATAM," added Villa.

"We are very thrilled to partner with Claro Colombia, one of the most powerful operators in Latin America, to spearhead the advancement of digital transformation and the collaboration between large conglomerates and startups to promote investment and boost the economy," said Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug and Play.

ABOUT PLUG AND PLAY:

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal.

For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.

Contact: Jackie Hernandez, SVP, Global Partnerships.

About Claro Colombia: Claro is the telecommunications mobile operator with the largest coverage in Colombia. It carries its 2G, 3G and 4G signal to 1,114 municipalities in the country with a network of more than 5,650 radio bases, attracting 27 million users who have chosen it as their operator of mobile voice and data services. Further on, it offers fixed telephony services, broadband Internet and subscription television.

Claro Colombia is a subsidiary of América Móvil, the leading company in integrated telecommunications services in Latin America. The deployment of its world-class communications platform offers its clients a portfolio of value-added services and improved communication solutions in 25 countries in the Americas and Europe. As of March 31, 2019, the company had 362 million access lines, including 277.4 million mobile subscribers and 84.4 million fixed income generating units (fixed telephony, broadband internet and subscription television). Learn more at www.americamovil.com

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SOURCE Plug and Play