What Are Chengdu Hi-tech Zone's Tips for Cultivating Three Unicorn Companies within One Year?

CHENGDU, China, Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It was known from Chengdu Hi-tech Zone on October 19^th that, the new retail brand of wines, 1919, officially announced to complete its C-round financing and its value of assessment reached RMB 7 billion after obtaining a strategic investment of RMB 2 billion from Alibaba Group through this financing round. It has officially promoted to be a unicorn company, right the third one in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone this year.

There had been no unicorn company in Chengdu before 2018. This March, Xinchao Media with an assessment value of USD 1.5 billion broke this "zero" record. In July, another company in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, Medlinker Technology, was joined in the ranks of unicorn companies. In addition to 1919, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has completed the "hat-trick" cultivation of unicorn companies within one year. It is said by relevant head that, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone will strive to cultivate 10 more unicorn companies in the next three years.

Owing to the extensive emergency of high-growth unicorn companies, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has attracted wide attention from the public for its "development code".

In recent years, along with the accelerated "upgrading and transformation" between the new and old economic growth drivers, some unicorn companies which are founded for a short time but with an assessment value of more than USD 1 billion has become a remarkable achievement of regional innovation capability for being as the representatives of new economy. However, another report shows that, at present, a large number of unicorn companies in China have been still in the stage of startup (nearly one third unicorn companies established after 2014), which requires necessary support in terms of policies.

Capital and site are the fundamental problems that most startup companies are facing with. In order to solve the problem of capital, at the early half of this year, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone set up the unicorn investment foundation with an overall scale of RMB 10 billion to help high-growth potential companies that own innovation technologies with innovation business modes to handle with the financing problem, while in order to solve the problem of site, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone set up an incubation network system including special industrial park, maker space, incubator, accelerator, special building, and professional company with an incubation carrier area of 4.3 million square meters.

Besides, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone also set up gradient cultivation system of new economy companies to provide more targeted policy support to companies in different stages respectively. For examples, new companies with growth potential can be awarded with at most RMB 1 million for once as the startup capital and rent subsidies; and it sets up special-staff service mechanism for potential unicorn companies to provide full-range supporting including talent introduction cultivation, investment and financing, market expansion, and achievement transformation.

With the support of a series of policies, except for the above three unicorn companies, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has also had a group of "potential unicorn companies" in recent years including XW Bank, Revotek, GIMI Technology. Among them, Revotek, a biotechnology company, conducted the global first vivo trial of planting3D bio-printing blood vessel in rhesus monkey with great success, while for being as the founder of Chinese non-screen television, GIMI Technology has obtained the CES Best Innovation Award, Red Dot Product Design Award, and IF Design Award in recent years.

In the Chinese New Economy of Vitality Index Rankings in 2018 which was released lately, Chengdu ranks the third in China, just next to Beijing and Shanghai, and Chengdu Hi-tech Zone is right the "new economy dynamic area" planned and defined by Chengdu. Its innovation vigor is attracting international well-known innovation organizations and companies to settle down. Chengdu-Israel Science and Technology Center, SBC- the first startup accelerator in Europe, two Siemens R&D and innovation centers, "Oscars for the Design World"  -- German iF (Chengdu) Design Center have settled down in Chengdu successively. Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has become one of the highest economic extroversion regions in western China. Powerful policies, sound innovation and startup atmosphere, and open international cooperation is now boosting Chengdu Hi-tech Zone as the new cradle of Chinese unicorn companies.

SOURCE Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone