Three British software engineering graduates join LoopUp’s San Francisco office as part of Silicon Valley Internship Programme’s inaugural intake.

LONDON, 1 AUG 2013: LoopUp, the provider of simple, pain-free conference calls and online meetings, today announced its recruitment of three British graduates into its San Francisco engineering team, as part of the Silicon Valley Internship Programme (SVIP).

Led by Michael Hughes, co-CEO of LoopUp, SVIP’s goal is to encourage UK entrepreneurialism by offering software engineering graduates a year’s experience in Silicon Valley, the quintessential hub for entrepreneurship. The program participants spend a year working full-time with sponsoring technology companies, with the aim of inspiring them to return to the UK with the skills and confidence to start up their own companies.

LoopUp is one of the sponsors, alongside other Silicon Valley technology companies including viagogo, Caring.com, PostRocket and Nimble Storage. At the end of August, Stewart Taylor from the University of Dundee, Chris Howard from the University of Edinburgh, and Paul Wozniak from the University of Kent will all be joining LoopUp’s rapidly-expanding engineering team. “I hope that the programme will sharpen my entrepreneurial skills, and allow me to start a venture of my own upon returning to the UK,” said Paul Wozniak.

“This scheme has proven really successful so far: we had a huge number of applicants, and a lot of sponsor companies wanting to get involved,” said Michael Hughes, co-CEO of LoopUp and founder of SVIP. “We’re delighted to be taking on three of the successful SVIP candidates, and we’re sure they will be a great asset to our engineering team. In turn they will get a really cool insight into how our company – and the valley as a whole – works, which they can take back to the UK.”

Students graduating in summer 2014 are invited to register their interest for the SVIP Class of 2014: SVIP 2014 Registration.

About LoopUp

LoopUp provides simple, pain-free business conference calls and online meetings. We help thousands of businesses host better remote meetings, without classic annoyances such as not knowing who’s joined, background noise, and difficulties sharing content. LoopUp alerts you when your first guest arrives, calls out to you when you wish to join, shows you who’s on and who’s speaking, and lets you share your screen with a click. LoopUp sells direct to the enterprise market and via distribution partners including BT, SmarTone, CSL, Cable & Wireless Communications and 3 Hong Kong. For more information, visit loopup.com or email pr@loopup.com.

About Silicon Valley Internship Programme

The SVIP aims to give new UK Software Engineering grads the unique experience of working at a hot Silicon Valley start-up through a one-year internship, in the hopes that this experience will bring a little of the Silicon Valley attitude back to the entrepreneurial community in the UK. SVIP is the brainchild of Michael Hughes, who developed this consortium of start-ups and industry organizations in 2013. Participants are matched with a sponsoring start-up, a mentor, and receive formal training on how to launch their own tech company during their one-year stint, which starts in the late summer. Internships are salaried, round trip flights are paid, and by working with the British Consulate and the British American Business Council in San Francisco, J-1 visas are issued. Learn more at facebook.com/svipUK and at www.siliconvalleyinternship.com.