The UK’s first funded initiative to get businesses China-invest-ready 

We are pleased to announce our new China Accelerator programme – an  initiative with a £500k investment fund dedicated to helping UK organizations get ‘China-invest-ready’.

Due to the significance of the programme we held a dedicated event to  launch it yesterday. In the new office of our host PwC Cambridge, our CEO Ting Zhang signed a partnership agreement with Dr Jian Cao of the UK-China Enterprise Fund (UKCE), witnessed by representatives in the innovation and investment community from both UK and China.

David Gill, Managing Director of St John’s Innovation Centre, gave the opening speech by sharing his observations from comparing the Cambridge cluster’s success in encouraging entrepreneurship and some Chinese cities; new initiative to do so, and commented on how a programme like the Crayfish China Accelerator can help UK tech  entrepreneurs “bridge the last mile” in developing their businesses in China.

Our CEO Ting Zhang further discussed what challenges startups normally face when they attempt to engage with the Chinese market, but also showed what could possibly be done with the right support.  She explained how the programme works and what support startups will get as part of the funding + handholding package.

Dr Jian Cao, a partner at UKCE, shared his experience in  investing £25m in tech startups in the UK for the past 10 years.  He strongly believes the Crayfish Accelerator programme could help both the Fund and the investee companies in terms of business strategies and execution support. The meeting also heard from Peng Zhi, an advisor at Zhongguancun Science City of Beijing, who gave a practical perspective on Cambridge-Zhongguancun connectivity in terms of business environment and collaboration opportunities between the two clusters.

The launch event was a great milestone for our company,  marking the start of the partnership between Crayfish.io and UKCE in the Crayfish China Accelerator programme.

The launch event ended on a high note with networking – everyone loved our choice of wine and nibbles!!

For more about our China Accelerator Programme, you can visit https://test.crayfish.io/content/crayfish-accelerator

Applications for the Crayfish China Accelerator programme can be made to Accelerator@Crayfish.io. There is also a hashtag #CrayfishAccelerator for conversations across social media platforms.

Here are some press coverage for Crayfish China Accelerator programme:

China Daily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201907/17/WS5d2dfca6a3105895c2e7dc7c.html?from=groupmessage

​Cambridge Network: https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/crayfishio-launches-uk%E2%80%99s-first-funded-initiative-get-businesses-china-ready