TECH companies in Scotland have until 31 May to bid for the chance to pitch to Chinese investors.
Edinburgh-based Informatics Ventures, which promotes technology entrepreneurship across Scotland, is collaborating with Scottish Enterprise and other partners to take ten companies to Hong Kong and Shenzen in October. Applications are being invited from growing firms that have received funding in the past or are already generating revenues.
“In other words, companies that have established themselves as having a genuine or credible offering,” explained Gordon Stuart, director of operations at Informatics Ventures, which runs the Engage Invest Exploit (EIE), the UK’s largest investor showcase for new and growing tech firms.
“We want to get out companies out there in front of Chinese investors and other potential commercial contacts. As well as showcasing their businesses, what we want to do is attract Chinese investors to come and visit Scotland. In particular, we’ll be inviting them to EIE 2017, which is in May next year.”
Mr Stuart said this month’s EIE 2016 event in Edinburgh, at which 60 companies pitched for cash, had record numbers of investors from outside Scotland, including China, the US, Germany and Singpore. Chinese investors included Cocoon Networks, a Chinese technology and investment group that recently announced a new £500 million London-based venture capital fund.
“What’s interesting about China is that a lot of Chinese investors are looking to make investments outside of China,” Mr Stuart said. “One of the big issues we have in Scotland is that, while there is lots of angel investment capital, we lack significant follow-on capital. So China is a potentially interesting source of follow-on investment in Scottish tech companies.”
Mr Stuart said Chinese investors were already investing in property in the UK and internationally, and investing in businesses was a logical extension of this.
“I think they recognise there’s a lot of good ideas outside of China and they want early access to these, as well as looking at what exists at home.”
Informatics Ventures is working in collaboration with the Asia Scotland Institute, which aims to build relations between Asia and Scotland, and Edinburgh-based WeAreTheFuture, which hosts entrepreneurship summits and programmes around the world.
Scottish Enterprise is part-funding the China visit. Informatics Ventures is also actively seeking sponsors.
Companies interested in applying to pitch should visit www.scotlandchina.com.
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