Start Up Farms

Start Up Farms

Start Up Farms operates as an early-stage investment vehicle anchored in Fremont, California, established by Saeed Amidi as an extension of his family's long-standing entrepreneurial and real estate activities. The firm's origins trace back to the Amidi family's commercial property holdings, which famously housed early tenants like Google and PayPal, giving rise to a distinctive model where physical workspace and seed capital are bundled to attract nascent technology startups. The firm pursues a high-volume, pre-seed and seed-stage strategy, deploying checks typically between $25,000 and $500,000. Its portfolio spans enterprise software, artificial intelligence, fintech, digital health, and mobility, reflecting the broad funnel of its sister accelerator, Plug and Play Tech Center. Start Up Farms functions as a direct co-investment and accelerator-adjacent vehicle, often providing the first outside capital to companies that later feed into the larger Plug and Play corporate innovation ecosystem. Confirmed exits include portfolio companies acquired by major technology firms, though the private nature of its transactions means specific ROI figures are not publicly syndicated. The geographic focus is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, with selective exposure to startups in Europe and the Middle East through the Plug and Play network. The firm operates with a lean team structure, leveraging the shared resources, deal flow, and partner network of the broader Plug and Play organization, which Amidi co-founded. While specific headcount for Start Up Farms is not separated in public disclosures, the parent platform employs thousands globally across more than 50 locations. The adjacent vehicle, Plug and Play Tech Center, serves as a global innovation platform connecting over 30,000 startups to corporate partners, making Start Up Farms the proprietary capital arm within a vast sourcing machine that includes vertical-specific accelerator programs in fintech, insurtech, and smart cities. Start Up Farms' structural differentiator is its deep integration with a physical and corporate infrastructure platform. Unlike standalone seed funds, it benefits from the landlord-entrepreneur relationship, screening tenants and accelerator applicants for investment, and providing portfolio companies with immediate access to Amidi's vast real estate portfolio and Plug and Play's 500-plus corporate partners for pilot programs and early revenue contracts.