Shenzhen Startups Win Places in JUMPSTARTER 2020 Finals
200 companies pitched for 5 spots latest Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund roadshow

(SHENZHEN, 21st August 2019)–The event started with 200 startups pitching their companies to judges and ended two days later, with the five best booking places in the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund/HSBC JUMPSTARTER 2020 Grand Finale in Hong Kong early next year.
 
The event, which kicked off an eight-city JUMPSTARTER 2020 global roadshow, was aimed at promoting and rewarding innovation and entrepreneurship.
 
Supported by PKU-HKUST SHENZHEN-HONG KONG, the event ran over two days, kicking off with one-on-one pitches on August 19, the shortlisting of the 30 top companies who would go onstage, in front of an audience and judges, followed by the announcement of the top five on August 20. The winners of the Shenzhen pitching event were:
 
1. Shenzhen Ricequant Technology Co. Ltd (深圳米筐科技有限公司)
2. Asia Regenerative Medicine (深圳华源再生医学有限公司)
3. 深圳市澤青源科技開發服務有限公司
4. The Block Ledger
5. Guangzhou Evking Technology Co. Ltd (广州蔚景科技股份有限公司)
 
JUMPSTARTER 2020 offers dynamic startups a chance to land vital investment and cash prizes, but it’s also a large-scale platform on which to expand their network for more education, better exchanges of ideas and innovation. For most, starting up a business means hurdling challenge after challenge.
 
Through the competition, they can learn from well-established enterprises and other startups how to build a solid foundation for embracing bigger market opportunities in the future.  To date, response to the global call from the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund for startups to pitch has been strong.
 
“We received around 200 applications in Shenzhen, the first location of this global competition.  And so far, 900 applications have been received by JUMPSTARTER 2020, covering the four industries of retail, Fintech, smart city, and deep tech,” said AEF Executive Director Cindy Chow. “We hope that JUMPSTARTER will serve as a springboard from which startups gain talent, opportunities, and funds to capture huge market opportunities in Shenzhen, a city with a population of over 4.5 billion.”   
 
Judge Meredith Shao, who’s also a Senior Vice President of Business Banking Innovation at HSBC Bank (China) Company Ltd Shenzhen Branch, noted “the teams shortlisted are of high calibre, and I very much look forward to the coming global competitions.”
 
She also encouraged all teams to utilize the advantages of Hong Kong, a neighbor to Shenzhen in the so-called “Greater Bay Area,” an agglomeration of eight cities China envisions as a future high-tech and infrastructure powerhouse, as a window to markets overseas.  In fact, she said Hong Kong, with its international-facing markets and events and as a global financial center, can lead Mainland startups onto the world stage.
 
The event included a panel discussion, with panellists sharing their ideas on how startups in China can go overseas and successfully raise funds.
 
Panelists included Chibo Tang, Partner at Gobi Partners; King Leung, Head of Fintech at Invest Hong Kong; Silvia Chen, Head of China Issuer services at HKEX; and Keke Zhang, President of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Association for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Cooperation. With a view to providing valuable information to startups, they offered a detailed analysis on the role of Hong Kong and the demand of overseas funding from Mainland startups. 
 
Silvia Chen, a speaker and a judge, said it was encouraging to see how solid the ideas and business plans from the young startups were. To change the lives of more people, though, the startup teams need a more effective way to actualize their dreams.
 
Events such as JUMPSTARTER 2020 can help them have a better picture of the startup ecosystem, expand their network and funding channels, she said.  She also expressed that with its high market transparency and sufficient funds, Hong Kong is a listing platform for startups that are growing rapidly and targeting the new economy. 
 
After Shenzhen, next up for JUMPSTARTER 2020 pitches is Kuala Lumpur on August 28^, followed by London, the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.  At each location, five teams will move to the next round.  Ultimately, 40 finalists from eight locations will pitch onstage in the Grand Finale in Hong Kong on Feb. 11-12, 2020. 
 
The Grand Finale is also part of the StartmeupHK Festival organized by Invest Hong Kong, which provides a chance for the teams to connect with different startup ecosystems and a global center of science and technology.  At the end of the competition, the top five Jumpstarters will win an investment commitment up to USD5 million and USD100K in cash prizes. 
 
For more about JUMPSTARTER 2020, click https://www.jumpstarter.hk/ .