Orange Fab US Unveils Season Five Startups and Expands its Fab Force Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Orange Fab, the US startup accelerator for European telecommunication carrier Orange, today unveiled seven new startups into their fifth season. These new startups feature the latest advancements in enterprise security, mobile technology and IoT platforms and include Ayda, Bitwage, Fitnet, Kryptnostic, Loop, Spinnakr, Toymail. These new additions join 34 startups that have graduated from the Orange Fab accelerator since it began in March, 2013.

Over the next 12 weeks, the seven selected startups will gain access to Orange Silicon Valley's vast network of resources and international partners via the Fab Force program. Each of the startups will participate in mentorship sessions with notable entrepreneurs, experienced designers, marketing experts and product specialists, receive an optional $20,000 in funding and gain work space at Orange Silicon Valley's office in San Francisco.

"Orange Silicon Valley is an integral part of our open innovation strategy. By collaborating with startups, our goal is to anticipate future trends in the digital industry, whether it be the development of innovative technologies or new business models," declared Pierre Louette, Deputy CEO and Secretary-General, responsible for digital investments at Orange.

Orange Silicon Valley also announced the expansion of its Fab Force alliance with the addition of five new international partners including EDF, TF1, PSA Peugeot Citroen,Veolia, and DPDgroup, the parcel delivery network of GeoPost. The Fab Force program features international organizations that offer distribution and growth opportunities to the startups within the Orange Fab accelerator. The five new partners join Orange Fab international alliances with major global businesses including Airbus, LG Electronics, Moët Hennessy, TOTAL M&S, Visa, and others.  

"TOTAL M&S constantly focuses on improving the journey of its customers, whether they be consumers or enterprises," said Marc Gigon, Vice President of Digital Transformation at TOTAL M&S. "Fab Force gives us great access to bold startups and fresh ideas that will help us deliver on our promises to our customers. On top of that, Orange Fab's deep knowledge of the trends in the valley, their extensive network of key people and companies, is a great opportunity to learn more about the digital revolution."

"Growing our roster of corporate partners not only delivers more value to our startups, but shows how corporate innovation teams recognize the challenge of starting their own accelerator, and the value of our established Silicon Valley network," said Georges Nahon, CEO of Orange Silicon Valley and President of Orange Institute. "With our fifth season, the human and logistical infrastructure for sustaining and growing a community of entrepreneurs that feels at home here continues to evolve."  

Season Five's Orange Fab class is made up of seven companies set to having a profound impact on the markets in which they compete. They are:

• Ayda: creating a fertility tracking platform that enables women either planning or having difficulty getting pregnant to conceive faster.
• Bitwage: leverages blockchain technology to make international payroll faster, easier and lower cost for employers, employees and contractors
• Fitnet: a personal trainer for everyone delivers exercise instruction and feedback on iOS and Android.
• Kryptnostic: enables secure & private collaboration through fully homomorphic encryption, allowing servers to process the data without ever decrypting it, leaving no openings for bad guys.
• Loop: a personal display with the mission to connect people to their family and their home.
• Spinnakr: transforming real time data streams into a feed of important events and patterns.
• Toymail: a messaging platform for kids that works via IoT toys to entertain, educate and keep children connected to those they love, without putting them behind another screen.

Since Orange Fab's inception, their portfolio of startups has seen multiple commercial engagements and pilots between accelerated startups and Orange. Orange Silicon Valley's and Orange Fab's support and counsel often leads to powerful business results for start-ups within the program. For example, Orange Digital Ventures recently participated in a $30 million Series B investment in Chain, the leading provider of blockchain technology solutions and a member of Orange Silicon Valley's ChainForce program. Additional investors in this round included NASDAQ, Visa, Citi, Capital One and Fiserv.

Other notable achievements among Orange Fab startups include:

• Chronos: acquired by Life360 in August 2015
• TrackR: shipped over 500,000 devices and has closed a Series A financing led by Brad Feld of Foundry Group
• Talkdesk: recently announced a $21M Series A financing round led by DFJ with a strategic investment from Salesforce Ventures
• MedWhat: completed a pilot in Africa and introduced a customized Diabetes App for Orange's 2015 mHealthTour in Europe.

Orange Fab US is currently considering applicants for Season 6. Any start-up company with an existing product or an advanced beta version can apply via the new open enrollment process. To learn more about Orange Fab US, please visit: www.orangefab.com

About Orange

Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with sales of 39 billion euros in 2014 and 157,000 employees worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 98,000 employees in France. Present in 28 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 30 September 2015, including 200 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan "Essentials2020" which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.livetv.orange.com or to follow us on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.

Press contacts: +33 1 44 44 93 93

Olivier Emberger ; [email protected]  / Sylvie Duho ; [email protected] 
Pascale Diaine ; [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151104/284164LOGO

SOURCE Orange Fab

Related Links

http://www.orangefab.com