Ladies and Gentlemen – Shanghai’s startup scene is rising!

  
  
     

  
We learnt about it first hand by visiting almost 10 different places from the core of Shanghai’s entrepreneurial scene, both private and public, Chinese and international.

 

Our goals for the 4-day trip on 27.-30.1.2016 can be put in to three points as following:

1. TEAM. Get a “tulikaste” (first shot) for our newly reinvented team with a renewed vision and know better each other in action.
2. SHANGHAI – examine the potential of having Shanghai as our main or one of the hubs.
3. China – Better understand, what’s going on in Chinese startup scene in general and outside Beijing.

+ Team. To get the newly started team in action, learn, understand, practice, get closer.

+ Shanghai. Discover Shanghai’s potential as a Slush venue from partner and environment point of view. Met key partners and saw key places.

+ Understand China’s startup environment better – what are the upcoming trends and potential points for Slush generation.

 

What was the outcome in those areas?

1) Team. Top notch. Great experience, worked well as a team, learnt a lot of each other professionally and personally.

2) Shanghai. Great place and built a lot of trust and confidence in us. We’re definitely going to do something in Shanghai this year, maybe even big time.

3) China. We know what we don’t know. Need to know more. A few new Ideas about it, such as Slush Buzz.

 

Who we met?

Key folks :

– ZJ Park, Administrative committee, SPD Bank.
They’ve Visited Slush, Design Factory, Startup Sauna.

– Team Finland.

Second option after Slush? Own office. Finchi supports.

– Suhehui. Investor platform. Advanced. Great connection.

– Kone. Initial partnership talks. Cooperation.

– Zero-to-one. (021) + Aalto-Tongji.

– Successful Design. Out of the box platform.

– Shanghai tech university. Newly launched innovative, experimental uni.

– Finnish startups.

 

My view and thoughts based on Shanghai visit:

Generally:

• Shanghai still has a long way to go to reach Beijing as the main startup hub, but it’s catching up rapidly.
• Government support will ensure a lot of resources and long-term commitment.
• The energy is ecstatic, and a lot of new stuff popping up as we witnessed first hand.

From Slush point of view:

• Shanghai is a truly potential environment with more international flavour and a newly rising startup scene. Slush is needed to support that development.
• Very promising deals on cooperation suggested. We have to examine things carefully.
• Opened our eyes to look China in a new light – we need to understand, experience and create connections more widely in China.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a good, promising start for something new.

Get back to you soon!