Cape Town-based start-up selected for Silicon Valley Plug and Play Accelerator Programme

Published: Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Insurance

Cape Town-based start-up, Hepstar, has been selected to participate in the world’s largest start-up accelerator programme. Plug and Play is the most active investment organisation in Silicon Valley, with portfolio companies including PayPal, Dropbox and Skytree.

Press Release Feature Image

Cape Town based start-up, Hepstar, has been selected to participate in the world’s largest start-up accelerator programme. Plug and Play is the most active investment organisation in Silicon Valley, with portfolio companies including PayPal, Dropbox and Skytree.

Cape Town-based start-up selected for Silicon Valley Plug and Play Accelerator Programme

Cape Town-based start-up, Hepstar, has been selected to participate in the world’s largest start-up accelerator programme. Plug and Play is the most active investment organisation in Silicon Valley, with portfolio companies including PayPal, Dropbox and Skytree.

Hepstar is a cutting-edge travel technology company revolutionising the travel insurance ancillary landscape and was amongst the top 20 start-ups handpicked for the program from over 1000 applicants globally. A strong emphasis on personalisation, e-merchandising strategies, data analytics and machine-learning fuels this exciting disruptor and makes Hepstar not just a serious player, but quite possibly the company destined to set the standards in this niche space.

Hepstar offers travel merchants the benefit of a having a single and central point of call for accessing travel insurance content from multiple providers across multiple residencies and optimises revenue earned from travel insurance sales through the use of innovative e-merchandising. Hepstar’s technology ensures customers receive a travel insurance offering that is relevant to them as an individual and not just a one size-fits-all offering, which contributes to a positive and personalised customer experience.

“We are really excited about this opportunity,” said Hepstar COO Claudia Snyman. “With partners like Turkish Airlines, Carlson Wagolit, TUI Group, Lufthansa and jetBlue Technology Ventures, Plug and Play provides a great opportunity to showcase our capabilities to some of the largest players in the travel sector.”

With no geographical limitations, Hepstar’s footprint already extends across Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. With its crosshairs firmly fixed on North America, participation in Plug and Play’s travel accelerator program sets the stage for Hepstar to take the continent by storm.  

“In regards to new modes of distribution for the travel insurance market, Hepstar’s strategy may be exactly the answer carriers and airlines are looking for,” said Kevin Wang, Head of Travel for Plug and Play Ventures. “Hepstar’s insurance products offer highly specific travel coverage which captures ancillary revenue for our travel partners.”

ENDS

About Plug and Play Tech Center 


Plug and Play Tech Center is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 100 companies every year.  Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 10 countries and 20 cities providing necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley.  With over 6,000 startups and 180 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. Plug and Play provides active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $4 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk.

For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

If you would like to receive notifications for new press releases

Subscribe