Silicon Valley incubator 500Startups to enter China this year

Silicon Valley Incubator 500Startups will officially enter China this year! We contacted the Greater China partner Ma Rui, who has just joined the 500Startups team, following her blog post:

I was born and raised in China and went to the United States to study high school and college. My heart has been deeply attached to China, its language and culture have left a deep imprint on me.

In the past few years, Chinese society has undergone great changes and people are beginning to realize that China's influence on the whole world is increasing. As a partner in the Greater China region of 500startups, I am very happy to be able to spread their firm belief and spirit to China, that technology can make the world more convenient, more efficient, more interesting, can make people live happier.

So why is China now an excellent choice for entrepreneurs and investors? For example, in China, entrepreneurs face a market that is quite different from the West, with a population of 1 billion, not millions. More than 500 million of China's netizens are enough to dwarf any country in the west.

The great potential of the Chinese market has long been perceived. China's four major cities-Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou-have more than 100 million inhabitants and have had a dramatic increase in wealth over the past few years. These population centres alone have already provided a huge market. For technology companies in particular, China's growing consumer population has the same demand for quality, apps and services as the Western consumer groups.

In the past few years, I have witnessed China's urbanization process, Chinese culture is more inclusive and open, can accept failure, encourage entrepreneurship. Although the steady work of the large state-owned enterprise group is still popular, people's employment choices are becoming more and more diversified. Many Western ideas have had a great impact on this generation through the infiltration of Chinese media, and many young people with a good education and an international perspective are beginning to accept new challenges--to start a business!

30 years since the reform and opening-up, China's rapid economic development has led many people out of poverty to achieve food and clothing. The huge opportunities in the nascent market, the relatively low cost of starting a business, the myriad of examples of rapid enrichment, the stories of Robin Li, MA, and Jack Yun, are so familiar that people have changed their minds about work, life and self-realization.

500startups firmly believe that these trends will continue to influence China's development in the next few years, and we will maintain long-term interest in investing in Chinese enterprises. We hope to cultivate a good growth prospects of science and technology enterprises, and in the domestic search for an open mind, international vision of partners. We are very excited to bring the 500startups and the spirit it represents to China, and we are delighted to see that in the process, many excellent Chinese companies are also attracted to us.

If you are a power Chinese entrepreneur, want to become the next market legend, quickly apply for our Spring Accelerator training program! (March 1)

About 500Startups:

Startups is a seed investment and accelerator located in Silicon Valley, founded in 2010. Each year it picks projects from around the world and, in a batch of three or four-month-long incubation periods in Silicon Valley, each will receive a maximum investment of not more than 250,000 dollars. In addition, the 500Startups also provides mentors, feature salons and events to support the rapid growth of entrepreneurial enterprises.