The city of Sugar Land has partnered with startup accelerator Plug and Play to support the growth of local businesses. Plug and Play will open a location in Sugar Land early next year under a three-year, $4.5 million contract with the city. The accelerator will work with around 20 local startups annually.
Startups participating in the equity-free program do not have to give up ownership of their business. “Startups that join Plug and Play programs are not giving up anything but their time to join them,” said Sherif Saadawi, Vice President of Growth Strategy at Plug and Play. Sugar Land will have a seat on Plug and Play’s local board of directors and help select startups for the program.
The accelerator will focus on businesses working to build “smart cities,” including sectors like energy, health, and transportation.
Partnership fosters startup growth in Sugar Land
“We’re very intentional about having this broad kind of view of what smart cities are, with the hope of being flexible enough to tackle as many challenges as we can,” Saadawi said.
Chandler Molpus, Sugar Land Economic Development Coordinator, said the city hopes to create jobs, build connections with larger corporations, and work with accelerator participants to address the city’s needs. “One of the ways we could see using this is having different pilot programs try to fix challenges that the city is facing, or different types of technologies that we want to try to implement,” Molpus explained. The new Sugar Land location, set to open in Sugar Land Town Square, will officially launch in February or March 2025.
It is expected to support about 15 startups and employ four full-time staff members. The focus will be on startups tackling issues in energy, health, transportation, and mobility. “We are excited to welcome Plug and Play to Sugar Land,” said Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman.
“This investment will help us connect with corporate contacts and experts, attract investments and jobs to the city, and potentially become a base for high-growth companies.”
The partnership highlights the region’s growing innovation ecosystem, which has seen substantial growth not only in Houston with impactful incubators like the Ion and Greentown Labs but also around the region with industry-specific accelerators such as Halliburton Labs and the Alexandria Center for Advanced Technology in The Woodlands.
