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Seed accelerator to 'make something China wants'

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: May 29, 2018 L M S

Zhongguancun Inno Way, an innovation center assembling entrepreneur service agencies in Beijing on May 17, 2016. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's Silicon Valley is cooperating with American startup powerhouse Y Combinator (YC) to help more Chinese innovators.

Four founders of YC, including its current CEO Michael Seibel, visited Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park -- China's Silicon Valley -- and had one-on-one conversations with entrepreneurs in Zhongguancun Innovation Street (Inno Way), according to local media on May 26.

They attended a luncheon hosted by Luan Tian, head of the global incubation department of Inno Way.

During the luncheon, Luan introduced the status of Inno Way, learned YC's plan to further its presence in China and arranged up to 20 mini symposiums between YC founders and Zhongguancun-based entrepreneurial teams.

Founders of Y Combinator chat with representatives of Inno Way in Beijing, on May 18. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Aiming to "Make Something People Want", YC will provide seed funding for Zhongguancun startups, work with them on their ideas and get them through the hardest stage.

Nevertheless, YC, a dream platform for every entrepreneur around the world, only appreciates ideas that have potential to make the world a better place.

With the same philosophy Inno Way has always organized and will continue to organize  events such as "Office Hour" and "YC Luncheon" to prepare Zhongguancun startups for their next steps.

Founded in 2005, YC has incubated or accelerated 1,450 companies, including Dropbox, Airbnb, Coinbase, Stripe, Instacart, Twitch, Cruise Automation and Reddit. These companies have a total market value of some $80 billion.

The founders of YC and representatives of Zhongguancun Inno Way [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]