Chinese SME Accelerator and Fund of Funds Platform Shengjing, along with Israeli venture capital firm JVP, is launching the Global Innovation Award, an international start-up competition with a top prize of $1 million.
The international competition is being held simultaneously in China, Israel, the US, Europe and Latin America, with the finals set to take place in Beijing in August, 2015. Twenty companies will advance to the Beijing finals. Prizes totaling $1.5 million will be awarded at the event.
The Israeli segment of the competition will be led by JVP along with its competition partners: Deutsche Telecom, EMC, Yissum (the Hebrew University technology Technology transfer Transfer company Company), The IDC Executive Education, and law firm Herzog Fox & Neeman (HFN). Together, they will review the startups from Israel, from which the finalists will be chosen to participate in the competition finals.
The competition is open to startups in Cyber-security, Big Data & Data Science, Internet and Mobile, Enterprise Software, Storage, FinTech, IoT Internet of Things, Wearable Computing and Digital Health. They must have existing investment of no more than $1 million.
Submissions will be accepted until April 30, 2015. Eligible startups will be reviewed by JVP and its competition partners. In June, 2015, 6-8 startups will be chosen to move on to the semifinals. Three finalists will then be chosen to represent Israel in the Beijing finals.
“We congratulate our Israeli partners, including many of the leaders of the Israeli hi-tech industry,” said Xueling Cao, Director at Shengjing Technology Co. at Shengjing360. “Israel has quickly become a global hub and model for an innovation driven culture. The goal of the competition is to identify the most promising, innovative startups globally, to open doors and support them, and to help them become groundbreaking, market-leading companies.”
“We are proud to lead the Israel segment of the Global Innovation Awards competition,” said JVP Partner, Yoav Tzruya. “This is a unique opportunity for companies to achieve a significant breakthrough in both global growth markets, including China, and to liaise with industry leaders. I’m sure this global competition will only generate even more interest in Israeli startups.”
Shengjing Group and Shengjing Fund of Funds senior partner Sherrie Wang said that the Chinese market, which has grown significantly in recent years and had opened up to the world cannot afford to ignore Israeli high-tech, "Our company has more and more customers and as part of this growth we are seeking new options, technologies and investments. We have been impressed by Israel as the start-up nation and from our point of view the potential in Israel is growing. We want to learn from you in the field of entrepreneurship and bring to China the culture of entrepreneurship, technology and innovation."
Shengjing Group director Xueling Cao said, "Israel is a perfect match for us. We hear of successes, and I, for example, have read the book Start-Up Nation, which is very popular in China. We need to adopt Israel's eco-system."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 2, 2015
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