Travel Agency H.I.S. Partners with Plug and Play to Accelerate its Innovation Capabilities

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Sep 10, 2020, 11:00 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the largest Japanese travel agencies based in the U.S., H.I.S. U.S.A. Holding, Inc., today announced its partnership with Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Plug and Play is a global innovation platform that brings together the best startups with the world's largest corporations. Through this partnership, H.I.S. will strengthen its connections with selected startups, enabling the company to accelerate its innovation capabilities for future travel technologies and solutions.

"Our mission is to use innovation to allow more people across the world to enjoy travel. The current form of travel is expected to greatly change through the next few years, and for us to stay on top of our industry, we must keep innovating ourselves," said Mr. Hatano, President and CEO of H.I.S. U.S.A. Holding, Inc. "We look forward to discovering new cutting-edge technologies and to discuss opportunities to create new value for our customers. We believe this collaboration with Plug and Play will accelerate our innovation."

"We're excited to welcome H.I.S. to Plug and Play's platform, a testament to H.I.S.'s continued pursuit of innovation and transformative excellence in travel services," says Lio Chen, Managing Director of Plug and Play. "Our main mission is to enable H.I.S.'s access to best-in-class emerging tech both domestically and internationally in order to accelerate their strategic investment in newer, better and more timely digital solutions that are imperative to inspire future travel."

About H.I.S. Group
Founded in 1980, HIS Group provides services all around travel. The multinational travel agency holds 148 group companies and over 18,000 employees in 69 countries worldwide. HIS not only provides travel packages to the customers around the world, but also owns and operates companies in hotel, theme park, transportation, energy, robot, insurance, schools, communication industries. H.I.S. U.S.A. Holding, Inc. is a company which not only overlooks the entire HIS branches in the North America, but also seeks to find possibilities of co-creation of new businesses with startup companies. The startup division currently operates mainly in the West Coast. Since 2019, HIS USA has invested and R&D on companies in and out of travel industry. Some industries include; entertainment, energy, agriculture, robotics, and retail. HIS has the ability to test new technologies / services using its worldwide network as well as the large theme park they own in Japan before the products hit the intended market.

For more information, visit https://www.his.co.jp/en/

About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 30 locations globally, giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With 30,000 startups and 400 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries, including Travel & Hospitality, with offices in Silicon Valley, Singapore, Shanghai, and Vienna, etc. We currently work with Accor, Airbus, Asian Development Bank, CWT, IATA, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Marriott International, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Star Alliance, TUI Group and many more. Companies in our community have raised over $9 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Honey, Lending Club and PayPal. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

SOURCE Plug and Play