Bookmark(0)
Log in to favorite
No bill yet? Login
The coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, earlier this year shook the world beyond all expectations. Since then, all sectors of the economy have been disrupted. The ecosystem of start-ups in China is no different. Starters who have already tried to raise money because of the delay in 2019 have been kind enough to accept that the coronavirus could be the last straw. Yet fundraising and venture capital have remained resilient in the dynamic ecosystem of Chinese start-ups and have continually refined their strategies in these unprecedented times.
Progress in strategy and resilience has helped China’s nascent ecosystem develop
Looking at the fundraising agreements that took place during the VIDOC-19 outbreak, the industry continued to invest in educational technologies, robotics, advanced technologies and logistics in the supply chain.
The pandemic accelerated the demand for stand-alone solutions and several agreements were made in the field of robotics, including hardware such as robot servers, cleaners, chatbots, sound detection, software such as computer vision and much more. Zhejiang-based voice communications company AISpeech received 58 million dollars in a financing round led by CTC Capital. Other investors in the transaction were Foxconn, Alibaba and MediaTek.
Bytedance led a $14.1 million financing round for the manufacturer of autonomous cleaning robots Narwal Robotics. Bytedance, headquartered in Beijing, is a multinational Internet technology company that was valued at $100 billion in May 2020 and joins the list of unicorns in China. Another hardware company, Shanghai-based Keenon Robotics, which produces server robots, raised $28.8 million.
As educational institutions use the online platform, China’s online education system is developing rapidly. Yuanfudao, the Beijing-based edtech giant, has managed to raise $1 billion in funding. Xiaomawan, a coding training company, raised $21.2 million.
Healthcare is another thriving sector that has been forced to develop online solutions to deal with the pandemic crisis. In March, Yizhong Intelligence entered into a $14 million financing agreement. The company uses AI to improve diagnostics and medical imaging.
China, once considered the world’s factory and a booming start-up ecosystem, has been shocked by a pandemic. By focusing on global supply chains, Chinese companies have sought to modernise the logistics networks of the agriculture and food industry of the future. Starfield, an artificial meat company in Schenzen, has concluded a financing round for an unknown amount with the American company New-Cop Capital. In the field of e-commerce, SFMap, a subsidiary of the SF Express card service, has signed a 14 million dollar contract. The company specializes in improving intelligent supply chain management and delivery logistics through AI.
Advanced technology companies, including enterprise AI, autonomous driving and space exploration, have also been able to raise significant funds. Pony.ai has received $400 million in funding, with Toyota leading the funding round.
The pandemic has brought many companies that were traditionally online into the digital world. The digitisation of the health and education sectors has improved accessibility across the country, previously concentrated mainly in China’s urban areas.
Some of them have had to bear the heavy burden of the pandemic – the hospitality and opening of tourist facilities in the country. However, China has recovered faster than the rest of the world thanks to its strict anti-pandemic strategies. The tourism sector, which was closed for almost a month, is now back to work. Innovative thinking has been the key to winning the trust of travellers. With the concept of the smart tourist attraction, things are back to normal.
Unicorns appearing in this new normal.
Despite the fact that the COWID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy, several Chinese start-ups have flourished as a result of changes in consumer spending and business trends. Beijing Calorie Technology, operates the Keep Fitness application, which hit the $1 billion mark in May 2020 and has 200 million registered users.
Dingdong Maicai, which sells fresh produce, received a boost during the closure and expanded its network of warehouses throughout the country, starting in Beijing and Shanghai. In the first half of 2020, 20 of the 50 Chinese start-ups that attracted the most funds came from medical fields such as biopharmaceutical development and genetic analysis, according to the Chinese Technology Information Portal 36Kr.
The ecosystem of the Chinese start-up seems to be fully ready for 2021
The start-ups are crucial to the country’s long-term economic ambitions and have already overtaken the United States as the world’s largest unicorn centre. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up a competitive environment for start-ups. Given the size of the Chinese market, the scaling up of digital platforms and services has proven to be a capital-intensive activity for companies. Nevertheless, venture capital activity remains essential to the overall health of the business creation system.
What’s your opinion?
+1
0
Voting
+1
0
Cotton
+1
0
Cotton
+1
1
Into the fire.
+1
0
Bont
+1
0
Cotton
+1
0
Related Tags:
startups china 2020,china tech startups,top 100 chinese startups,fastest-growing startups in china,hot chinese startups,50 most recently funded startups in china,companies bought by china in 2020,fastest growing companies in china,most innovative chinese companies,hottest israeli startups 2020,meet the 100 top-funded startups and tech companies in china,investing in chinese startups