Big names emerge from incubator

Shanghai Pudong Software Park is not only a business platform for leading global companies, it is also a business incubator for small enterprises.

Operating with a "business angel, professional incubator, professional instructor" model, the SPSP was designed to help start-ups solve problems encountered in early stages as they find their feet.

"SPSP's incubator is a key step between R&D and industrialization. It fosters competitive and innovative companies and helps start-up enterprises succeed in the face of fierce competition," an expert said.

In 2012, the SPSP obtained recognition from Ministry of Science and Technology as a national technology incubator.

With the support of the SPSP, many start-up companies have grown to be big success stories and obtained funds from venture capital investment companies. The most famous are Fruitday.com and Ximalaya.

Online fruit trader Fruitday.com has obtained funds from Clearvue Partners, SIG and the SPSP Fund.

Ximalaya, the largest locally developed online-voice sharing website, had attracted more than 50 million users by May 2014, and the company has obtained venture capital investment from SIG, Sierra Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. Another company, Qiniu Cloud Storage, a data storage service provider, has obtained 70 million yuan in investment from Matrix Partners China and Qiming Ventures.

In 2014, three small companies being nurtured in the SPSP business incubator obtained funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and 20 businesses obtained funding from the Shanghai government.

Currently, about 100 companies are operating in the SPSP's business incubator and a big proportion of companies were established by overseas returnees and people with experience with leading firms.

"Well educated employees and high research and development ability are key features of those companies," said an SPSP manager.

To strengthen communication between start-up companies, the operators of the SPSP's incubator often arrange training programs so that businesses could obtain up-to-date information about the software and IT service industry.

The incubator also works closely with SPSP's venture capital company, a venture capital company formed by SPSP and Shanghai CCI Investment to provide services such as finance and technological platform to start-up companies.

tangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/10/2014 page27)