(Yicai Global) April 24 -- Plug and Play Tech Center, an early stage investor based in Silicon Valley, plans to build a Shanghai headquarters to better serve businesses across China's Yangtze River Delta region.

The 13,000 square meter base in Zhangjiang Science City will be the firm's second-largest tech and innovation center and will lead construction, operation and management in the region, Shanghai newspaper Jiefang Daily reported today. The headquarters will integrate several business functions and include a technology showcase, leisure area, global road show hall and conference center.

Staff at the new base will be looking to catch outstanding innovation projects at an early stage and offer capital and industry support to facilitate their rapid growth, said Xu Jieping, the firm's managing partner in China.

Plug and Play is one of the world's largest tech incubators and has branches in 28 countries and regions. It has supported more than 10,000 innovative startups and partnered over 300 investment institutions and 280 multinational companies.

Its new home, formerly known as Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, hosts over 18,000 firms and nearly 900 headquarters of high-tech companies and multinationals, most of which are focused on information technology and biomedicine.

Editor: James Boynton