Together with Rakuten, a global leader in internet services, Techstars will work with early-stage entrepreneurs who are advancing social messaging technologies, with a focus on the Viber application. This mentorship-driven accelerator will focus on disrupting and revolutionizing how businesses and consumers use messaging to conduct business and stay connected. Areas considered for the program include: AI including chat bot, chat commerce, mobile wallet and crypto currency, ad tech, VR and AR solutions, voice recognition, image recognition, translation, content such as music and sports, chat based IoT, and enterprise integrated messaging.