Venture capital platform hosts investor dinner

China's renowned investment platform vc.cn hosted an "angel dinner" in Beijing on Oct 12 to facilitate cooperation between investors and startups.

"It provides investors and entrepreneurs with a chance to communicate face-to-face," said Li Xiaoning, founder of vc.cn.

The dinner gathered four startup projects and several angel investors.

"We wanted to pick out the most excellent entrepreneurs and boost angel investment through the dinner," Li said.

He said the idea of the dinner was inspired by similar events in the United States, including a lunch hosted by Warren Buffett, an American business magnate and investor.

With the help of its partners, vc.cn selected the four projects from more than 4,000 applicants. They include Rongmomo, an online-to-offline platform for beauty and body care.

Insiders said the projects contain concepts such as a sharing economy, business-to-business, big data and consumption upgrades, which are thought to be the most promising for venture investors.

The angel dinner assessed the four projects at more than 100 million yuan ($15.74 million), according to a representative from vc.cn.

Xu Xiaoping, founder of ZhenFund, said, "The angel dinner organized by Li Xiaoning is a kind of service for the whole investment circle and good news for entrepreneurs."

"Through the dinner we make efforts to create an ecosystem and share our judgment, experience and lessons with other investors," he said.

Li said vc.cn is a platform that will recommend other top projects from the 4,000 applicants to its cooperative venture capital companies.

Other services provided by the platform include networking events for entrepreneurs and financing businesses.

vc.cn has hosted 38 monthly road shows for startup projects. Each show selected six projects from hundreds of applicants and allowed them to showcase themselves to some 50 investors, Li said.

He said the shows have helped nearly 100 projects gain investments and he hopes thatvc.cn can get more attention and become a platform in China where the angel investment experience will be shared.

(China Daily 10/20/2015 page7)