Dao Ventures Launches 2016 US-China Entrepreneurship Competition
Tao Zhang
4 Posts
In 2016, Dao Ventures, a Sino-US impact investment and accelerator group, will join forces again with the Dongsheng Science and Technology Park in Zhongguancun, China’s Silicon Valley, to launch the 2nd Dongsheng-Dao Ventures US-China Entrepreneurship Competition.

Compared with last year, in addition to the Greater Washington region as the main venue, Dao Ventures will also focus on recruiting applicants from the Boston/Cambridge area where some of the well-known US institutions of higher education are concentrated, with the objective of attracting more aspiring young entrepreneurs across the Pacific.

The cross-border and internationalization aspect distinguishes the Dongsheng-Dao Ventures US-China Entrepreneurship Competition in that the 15 finalists from last year came from four countries and local competitors from the US accounted for two-thirds of the finalists. Additionally, what particularly differentiates the Dongsheng-Dao Ventures competition is that it has included environmental and social impact as a key part of its evaluation criteria as guided by Dao Ventures. Most of the finalists and all the top winners from last year who advanced to the Beijing Grand Final were considered environmental and/or social small and medium-sized enterprises.
 
Whether you are a solid business initiative still in the garage, a seed-stage start-up company or an emerging SME looking to scale up, entrepreneurial initiatives of different investment maturities are all welcome to join the 2016 Competition. We are certainly not limiting the competition to only those who look to do business in the China market – US companies purely focusing on the domestic market but with global potential are equally encouraged to apply and participate.
 
The sector focus of this competition encompasses technology, media, telecom, health care, fintech, and environmental in general.

The competition’s participants will be competing to win the following prizes and/or benefits:
 
o   RMB million (~$160,000) top award at the Beijing Grand Final
o   The first prize of $10,000, second prize of $5,000, and third prize of $2,000 for the US Final Competition
o   A potential invitation and a paid trip (airfare and 5-day hotel accommodation) to participate in the Beijing Grand Final via a live entrepreneurship TV show
o   Prospective investments from Chinese investors
o   Free office space in Dongsheng’s Beijing accelerator and/or Dao Ventures’ New Ventures Global accelerator in the heart of China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei triangle area
o   Brand marketing, publicity, and media promotion
o   Consulting and mentoring services
 
Application is free and easy –please visit www.daoventures.com/application to start the journey. Registration for application has been extended to close on November 20, 2016, and the final US competition will be consolidated and held at the Arlington Economic Development on December 1, 2016 to ensure consistency of selection and judging. If selected as finalists, applicants will need to come to Arlington to pitch in person on December 1, 2016, and finalists from outside the Greater Washington region will each be given a $500 travelling stipend.  
 
Dao Ventures has received support from partner organizations that include Arlington Economic Development, the Chinese Finance Association (TCFA) DC Chapter, Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association, Sinovator, and Liaoyuan for this competition. 

 
2 Replies
That Tao! Any tips for Fellows who might be interested in applying? Would this be good for Fellowship ventures? 
Tao Zhang
4 Posts
Hi Phillip, 

Thanks for your inquiring. Fellows and their ventures are certainly welcome to apply for this Competition, especially those with a potential China fit and/or interest. Actually I believe Aspen Fellows and their ventures would be a good fit with what we are looking for from applicants, given their inherent social and/or environmental impact.  

Best regards,
Tao

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