“To summarize, the time here with DC-Hub was very well invested in terms of catching up with the startup scene in Shanghai, getting to know about China and E-commerce and last but not least getting a deeper understanding about the development, drivers and culture of the biggest nation in the world.” Dr. Doreen Max, Blugento GmbH.

The third Batch of the Shanghai Startup Class, organized by DC-Hub, took place in Shanghai from 9th September to 9th October 2019. Once again, startups from all over Germany had applied, of which the following the jury selected to be part of the batch: Blugento GmbH, landopay, NetLume by idatase GmbH, Track your offer and Symate GmbH.
The startups had the chance to dive deeply into the Shanghai startup and innovation ecosystem and got the opportunity to engage with the international key players of the scene.
Again, AHK Shanghai provided the startups with an overview of the Chinese market and the current overall situation. Still, AHK Shanghai remains one of DC-Hub’s closest partners for the Shanghai Startup Class. Moreover, the startups visited the Tongji University’s German Institute to participate in a lecture about machine learning in China together with CDHK Urbanixx Shanghai Master Programme students operated by TU Berlin.

This 3rd batch celebrated the 1st anniversary of the Australian based Blockchain Centre Shanghai before getting treated by Shanghai Kempinski Hotel for a breakfast meeting with one of Shanghai’s most influential and famous business personalities, Rüdiger Hollweg, the General Manager of Kempinski Shanghai. He gave insights into Shanghai businesses and unravelling stories.

Besides many workshops and meetings with several international investors, the startups also had the chance to meet with China Accelerator Shanghai and SOSV to gain insights about investments in China.

Dr. Doreen Max from Blugento GmbH talks about her experience: “A big difference [to Europe] is, how people adopt innovations and how they deal with new technological developments. In terms of that, they are already ahead of us. They e.g. teach already little children about blockchain and programming. AI, 5G and blockchain are the big buzzwords here. Also when it comes to governmental objectives and people on the streets are adopting new tech stuff faster than we do. The Chinese follow the trial and error approach, while we are often trying to go the „perfect“ way.”

Leonora Beyhl from landopay said: “Each of our sessions provides unique insights and different perspectives on the key challenges faced by companies entering the Chinese market. These insights will undoubtedly save us many headaches and cost in our Chinese expansion. […] Additional to the meetings, we valued the startup relevant workshops, e.g., financing and funding. These workshops, along with the unwavering support from Steve, Martin, and Maedeh, made this trip incredibly worthwhile.”

Further, Bob Zheng, the founder and owner of the CoWorking Space P2 in Shanghai, took the time to sit together and talk about how he built his Chinese CoWorking Space company that operates currently 30 locations in Greater China with more than 20,000 active users.

“It was very delightful for me to have P2 Coworking as a central working environment. Doing essential activities of the Daily Business was thus ensured. Also, working in P2 also gave me an interesting insight into the local startup culture.” stated David Haferkorn from Symate GmbH.

While being in Shanghai, the Shanghai Startup Class’s participants met not only many key players but also other international and local startups. They were able to exchange views and insights as well as learn and get inspired by peers to help them move forward in their endeavours back in Europe or possibly internationally.
“Gaining a greater understanding of the different cultural and business practices was a key driver to our participation [in the startup class]. We were certainly not disappointed; the team from DC-Hub were incredible; they were so generous with their knowledge and time.” Leonora Beyhl, landopay.

Interested to take part? Apply now for Batch 4:

Batch 4 starts on April 15th, 2020.
Apply now for under dc-hub.de/apply or contact: info@dc-hub.de for further information.