What exactly does Sinovation Ventures do?

He joked that now that the leaders are gone, we can chat casually.

Two years ago, 48-year-old Kai-fu Lee resigned from Google China and joined Sinovation Ventures. As an entrepreneur, age is never a problem, vision is the most important.

Previous questions:

Dim sum is one of the most well-known projects cultivated and incubated by Innovation Works. At the end of last year, it successfully received a first-round investment of nearly US$15 million. More than 30 members of Dim Sum have already settled in the Entrepreneurship Training Base at No. 300 Guoding East Road. A beautiful woman is shouting to a distracted male colleague: "Calm down and write code well for me!" Someone was chatting, and suddenly there was a bright expression on their face.

What exactly does Sinovation Ventures do? Two years ago, almost everyone had this question. Kaifu Lee said that everyone gradually began to understand that what Kaifu Lee was doing was not a charity or helping college students find their direction in life, but leading young people to develop their dreams and work hard to make money. In the two years since its establishment, Sinovation Ventures has reviewed more than 2,500 projects, invested and incubated 34 projects and companies, 9 of which successfully attracted external VCs to complete Series A financing, with an investment amount of more than 250 million yuan, and the total valuation is expected to reach 3 billion yuan.

As for the questions raised two years ago, Kaifu Lee has already had enough confidence to answer. We have created a "professional incubation + investment" model suitable for all entrepreneurial fields and entrepreneurs. All conditions are ripe. Entrepreneurs who are short of money only invest money, but they start to create enterprises from scratch before they have become a business or even registered.

Business now:

Transforming Zhongguancun from a hypermarket into Silicon Valley

The 2,000 square meters of space at Sinovation Ventures’ Beijing base is no longer enough, with nearly 500 people crowded into it Together, plus those incubated companies that are still hanging on after graduation, the company has moved every year since its establishment, and recently it has been busy looking for a new place. The primary condition for the site selection of Sinovation Ventures' Shanghai base is that the space is spacious and large enough to meet future development requirements. Finally, we got a three-story office space of nearly 8,600 square meters on Guoding East Road.

Li Kaifu hopes to bring some of Silicon Valley’s innovative genes to China. There used to be only Starbucks near the Sinovation Ventures Beijing base, but now many garage cafes have opened, and investment institutions have set up offices nearby. Just like bees discovering flowers, Kaifu Lee joked that they have turned Zhongguancun from a hypermarket to Silicon Valley. These are just superficial phenomena, the innovative concept of the enterprise is the foundation.

Future perspective:

Publish recruitment advertisements through the media

When Sinovation Ventures was first founded to raise funds, Kai-fu Lee used the favor card as usual, and Yu Minhong from New Oriental

Foxconn and MediaTek are all his old friends. Just make a phone call and the funds will arrive the next day. But soon the financial crisis came, and Sinovation Ventures had no income for more than half a year. When we talked about investment, people talked a lot about it. Isn’t it feasible for you to help others start a business? Kaifu Lee simply eliminated the interference and focused on doing his own thing. As Dim Sum, Wandoujia, and Xingyun became more and more famous, money was no longer an issue, but who to invest in was.

What we pay most attention to is of course software, especially mobile Internet. As long as there are engineers, it can be made, the cost is reduced to the lowest, the expected benefits can be seen in 6 months, and the probability of future success is high. These are the factors we consider investment. Projects that will not see growth in the short term and earn hard-earned money, such as outsourcing, are not considered by Sinovation Ventures. Kai-Fu Lee admitted that they are now using a cast-net fishing method, casting a lot of fish, and only a few may succeed in the end. Facts have proved that his vision is the Midas touch. He was optimistic about the Android platform at the beginning. Now Dimsum, which is favored by VC, is making Android solutions, Leiyou is making game software for Android, and Umeng is making statistical solutions for smartphones. They all have the status of champions.

In Kaifu Lee’s view, for entrepreneurs, Shanghai has strong advantages in finance and e-commerce, while Beijing is strong in mobile and technology. As for the social field, both sides are good. The Shanghai base will replicate the Beijing base in all functions, from investment, personnel, and marketing