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 travel technology company in the travel insurance ancillary landscape and was amongst the top 20 start-ups handpicked for the programme from over 1,000 applicants globally.
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.
Snyman: “Great opportunity”
“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.”
Hepstar’s footprint already extends across Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East.
“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.
Plug and Play Tech Centre connects startups to corporations and invest in over 100 companies every year. Plug and Play provides active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and more than 700 networking events per year.
