US accelerator Plug and Play will invest €5,9M in Lithuanian startups

US accelerator Plug and Play will invest €5,9M in 45 Lithuanian startups during the nearest three years. The US company will expect to implement five acceleration cycles for 60 startups in Lithuania until March 2026. Each acceleration program will admit 10-15 startups and lasts for 12 weeks. Lithuanian Innovation Agency will supervise this program.

Each cycle will culminate with a demo day, during which the teams will pitch to business angels or representatives of venture capital funds operating in international markets.

The Ministry of Economy and Innovation announced that Plug and Play's services are worth €9,4M. However, the state has not signed a contract with Plug and Play yet.

According to Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrine Armonaitė, cooperation with Plug and Play will help Lithuanian entrepreneurs establish contacts with foreign investors and global corporations. She also noticed that the accelerator would facilitate the growth of the startup ecosystem in the country and receive more unicorns.

Founded in 2006 by Saeed Amidi, Plug and Play runs more than 60 acceleration programs a year with more than 2,5K startups finishing them. The programs are equity-free for startups. At the same time, the accelerator offers an investment of $50K-250K in pre-seed, seed, and series A startups in exchange for 1%-5% of the company.  

Plug and Play's network comprises 50K startups, more than 500 global corporations, hundreds of venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Such unicorns as online file storage Dropbox, online delivery service company Rappi, and online money payment service PayPal joined its acceleration program at different times.