4 Newest Ways to Get Your Startup Business Funded in China

Foreign entrepreneurs are full of great ideas and powerful ways to implement them, but in China, starting a new business is always not easy. One of the most frequent questions to entrepreneurs is "How do I find the money to start my business in China?" I’m not going to explain much about the traditional solutions such as bank loan, trade equity or venture capital. Here I’d like to focus on 4 newest ways that getting popular in China these days:

Start a crowdfunding campaign online

Crowdfunding is an attractive alternative to traditional funding. This newest source of funding can help entrepreneurs launch their companies without much capital investment. Here people make online pledges to your startup during a campaign for proof of concept, early idea validation and even customer pre-orders. With the right crowdfunding platform and ample promotion, a crowdfunding campaign has the potential to raise quite a lot of money in a very short amount of time.

Request a government grant

These are government funds allocated to support new technologies and important causes, such as education, medicine and social needs. While very complex in China, these grant programs may be able to help you finance the start-up and expansion of your business.

However, grants are typically very competitive because unlike loans, grants do not have to be repaid. Issues such as where to search for the government grants, how to create your business plan, how to assemble your documentation, need to be carefully dealed with. A good solution is to find a reliable local partner to help you navigate through. WTOIP Global may be a choice. Their China Business Starter Pack offer guidance in research and application on government funding.

Enter an Innovation Contest

Entering a startup competition can be a powerful experience for a startup. Winning comes with a lot of funding, the Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge provides annual rewards of $50,000 plus $50,000 in AWS credits to businesses each year. IPIEC Global (Intellectual Property Innovation & Entrepreneurship Contest) offers cash prize of $170,000, and $24,000,000 tech fundraising. But even if you don’t win, you gained exposure for your business, connected with advisors and industry mentors, and received feedbacks. You won’t leave empty handed.

Join a startup incubator or accelerator

These organizations are very popular these days in China, and are often associated with major universities, community development organizations, or even large companies. Most provide free resources to startups, including office facilities and consulting, but many provide seed funding as well. Some big-name organizations even offer access to some of the Chinese brightest business minds. These aids may help to start your business in China.

Of course, every way above has advantages and disadvantages, so they may not be available or attractive to you. Thus it is always a question of what you want, and what you are willing to sacrifice, to turn your dream idea into a real business.