innoSpring, Silicon Valley’s first US-China technology startup incubator, officially opened its doors today and welcomed its first intake of 12 technology startup companies to its newly-minted 13,500-square-feet facilities in Silicon Valley. At a by-invitation-only event, InnoSpring also announced the establishment of the InnoSpring Seed Fund.
Formed from a strategic partnership between Tsinghua University Science Park (TusPark), Shui On Group (Shui On), Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), InnoSpring is the first incubator to focus on supporting American and Chinese startups to expand beyond their home countries.
InnoSpring provides:
Office space that can accommodate up to 40 startups
Startup capital, as well as access to venture capitalists and angel investors
Mentoring from seasoned executives and entrepreneurs
Business plan and funding advice
Entrepreneurial workshops, team building and recruiting assistance
In-house resources like bookkeeping/accounting and paralegal services
Referrals to professional services for U.S. and Chinese startups interested in cross-border development
Access to Chinese public agencies to facilitate US startups’ China expansion
“For entrepreneurs with global aspirations, the Pacific Ocean just grew a little smaller today,” said Eugene Zhang, president of InnoSpring. “Newly-inducted incubatees joining InnoSpring’s ecosystem can leverage our US-China focus as well as receive customized incubator services. Today, we crossed our first milestone and eagerly look forward to building InnoSpring for the long haul.”
The InnoSpring Seed Fund and Seed Program
The InnoSpring Seed Fund will provide seed capital for select startups who have gained entry into its Seed Program, a 6-month boot camp for entrepreneurs who aim to complete their prototype, to build a complete core team and conduct initial customer feedback and validation.
The InnoSpring Seed Fund is funded by leading investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB), Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), GSR Ventures, China Broadband Capital (CBC Capital) and TEEC Angel Fund. As an anchor partner of InnoSpring, TEEC Angel Fund will also screen and evaluate the applications.
“Fostering cross-border innovation is a big part of our mission and vision,” said Deng Feng, founding managing director of Northern Light Venture Capital. “Supporting InnoSpring and its entrepreneurs by contributing resources and expertise is one way that NLVC can give back to the startup community.”
In InnoSpring’s first year, up to 15 startups will be selected to receive $25,000 each upon admission into InnoSpring’s Seed Program. Select startups will also have the opportunity to receive an additional influx of up to $250,000 in capital from TEEC Angel Fund, bringing the maximum initial investment amount up to $275,000.
“We look forward to backing some of Silicon Valley’s brightest entrepreneurs and to help position them for success by leveraging the best that a Greater China and Silicon Valley presence has to offer,” said Wen Hsieh, Partner of KPCB U.S. and Managing Partner of KPCB China. “We’re very excited to support InnoSpring’s early-stage startup program.”
First Slate of Incubatees
InnoSpring’s first slate of incubatees represent a broad range of sectors, including hardware, software, clean technology and the life sciences. These include:
Accusilicon, a semiconductor company
Dewmobile, mobile-to-mobile communication company
Hillion Tech, an interactive video technology company
Hillstone Networks, network security solution
Mugeda, a HTML5 animation platform
Narvelous, a social game company
Peaya, software for the second brain
QuestBid, a virtual assistant and online bid system
SecuredInside, a software (SaaS) security company
Sunube, clean technology company focused on greening data centers
Trusper, a stealth social network company
Weaver Mobile, PhotoBox for Facebook
“We are thrilled to be selected to InnoSpring’s first class of companies,” said Yi Zhou, Founder and CEO of Accusilicon. “We are building the world’s lowest noise clock ICs for 10G/40G/100G ethernet and 3G/4G mobile phone networks for production, allowing more bandwidth with the same power consumption. Our business is globally-focused from day one, and we expect to further tap into InnoSpring’s cross-border resources.”
InnoSpring is currently taking applications for entry into their startup programs. Interested startups can apply online at http://innospring.net/apply/
About InnoSpring
InnoSpring is Silicon Valley’s first US-China technology startup incubator focused on nurturing American and Chinese start-ups to expand beyond their home countries. It is created from the joint partnership of Tsinghua University Science Park (TusPark), Shui On Group (Shui On), Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
http://www.pehub.com/145443/innospring-opens-office-and-launches-seed-fund/
