The profiles, HQs, assets under management and more of Plug and Play Tech Center and Tenstorrent

Two of the major successes that came out of President Nikos Christodoulides’ recent visit to the US was the interest in Cyprus shown by major US tech companies Plug and Play Tech Center and Tenstorrent.

Christodoulides used social media to announce the news while still on the visit, where he headed a delegation of experts including Invest Cyprus Chairman, Evgenios Evgeniou and CEO Marios Tannousis and government officials including Deputy Minister to the President Irene Piki, Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nicodemos Damianou and Chief Scientist Demetris Skourides.

Now, using sources including the companies’ websites, LinkedIn and business data provider Crunchbase, CBN takes a closer look at the two companies below:

PLUG AND PLAY TC

Plug and Play Tech Center is a venture capitalist that mainly invests in seed and early-stage ventures. Among other services, it is also a global innovation platform that, among its services, connects startups, corporations, investors, and governments to drive technological advancement.

Founded in 2006 by Saeed Amidi and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the organisation offers accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and venture capital investments. With a presence in over 50 locations worldwide, Plug and Play has facilitated the growth of numerous startups across various industries.

Key Details:

Founded: 2006

Founder & CEO: Saeed Amidi

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California, USA

Global Presence: 50+ locations including the U.S., China, France, Germany, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brazil

Industries Covered: Agtech, Energy, Fintech, Health, Insurtech, IoT, Mobility, Real Estate, Supply Chain, Sustainability, among others

Notable Investments: PayPal, Dropbox, LendingClub

Employees: Approximately 275

Assets Under Management: Approximately $500 million (as of 2023)

Website: plugandplaytechcenter.com

TENSTORRENT

Tenstorrent is a next-generation computing company specialising in the development of high-performance hardware for artificial intelligence applications. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Tenstorrent designs software-programmable processors that scale from edge devices to cloud servers. The company focuses on RISC-V CPU architecture and AI graph processors, aiming to provide scalable and efficient hardware solutions for deep learning.

Key Details:

Founded: 2016

Founders: Ljubisa Bajic, Milos Trajkovic, Ivan Hamer

CEO: Jim Keller

Headquarters: Toronto, Canada

Global Offices: Austin (Texas), Silicon Valley (California), Belgrade, Seoul, Tokyo, Bangalore

Employees: Approximately 379

Total Funding: $1.18 billion over 10 rounds

Latest Valuation: $2.6 billion (as of December 2024)

Notable Investors: Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, Fidelity Investments, Jeff Bezos' family office

Recent Developments: In partnership with BOS Semiconductors, Tenstorrent unveiled "Eagle-N," an AI chip designed for automotive applications, set to enter production in late 2026.

Website: https://tenstorrent.com/en

The exciting development of the companies' interest in Cyprus were first announced by President Christodoulides himself, via social media.

More specefically, the President on 8 April announced that one of the world's largest innovation platforms and startup accelerators, Plug and Play Tech Center (Plug and PlayTC) was set to explore the prospect of opening an office and investing in Cyprus.

In his post on X, Christodoulides, who was heading the delegation to the US to encourage interest in Cyprus as an innovation hub and investment location, said, "Meeting with Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of PlugandPlayTC, one of the world's largest innovation platforms and startup accelerator. During the meeting, the company's CEO announced their intention to visit Cyprus to explore the prospect of opening an office and investing in Cyprus."

Christodoulides (L) and Saeed Amidi

Also on 8 April, the President again took to social media to reveal that Jim Keller, the CEO of US-based Tenstorrent, a pioneer in the field of AI processors which develops scalable AI accelerators for both cloud and edge computing to NVIDIA's GPUs, had announced the company’s intention to establish an office and operations in Cyprus.

Christodooulides (R) and Jim Keller

Christodoulides posted, “Met with Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, a pioneer in the field of AI processors. During the meeting, Jim Keller announced Tenstorrent’s intention to establish an office and operations in Cyprus.”