Beauty in the eye of the beholder: (Above) The different filters Camera360 offers. The startup behind this camera app is based in Chengdu and now also holds offices in Beijing and Tokyo. (Photo : Camera360/Google+)
A blog posted in June 2015 in Huffpost Travel of the Huffington Post enumerated the following 10 reasons why locals and foreigners alike should visit Chengdu: pandas, tradition, food, temples and historic sites, ancient history, riverside (Jin River), Mount Emei, the Leshan Giant Buddha, transit and value (in terms of available accommodations).
This year, it is likely that the capital city of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province attracts people for one more reason: startups.
More and more startups emerge in Chengdu as the city serves as an avenue for budding entrepreneurs to transform their innovative ideas into something tangible, reported Bloomberg.
From a startup that manufactures a device that alerts parents when the baby’s diaper needs to be changed to another venture that repairs people’s organs, Chengdu hosts a number of new businesses offering solutions to the varied needs of people.
Chengdu’s local government lends its support to these startups, particularly encouraging more business ventures to rise in the fields of biotechnology, telecommunications and health. It has allotted “seven startup-focused funds” amounting to 700 million yuan.
The city’s science and technology bureau also sends people to assist banks when these financial institutions evaluate the value of the technology and patents startups present to them.
The Tianfu Software Park Lab located at the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone accommodates 110 Internet startups, according to Financial Times. Some of the prominent tech companies operate in Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone, such as America’s Dell and Intel and Taiwan’s Foxconn.
With people’s penchant for editing their photos to enhance their looks taking into consideration, it might not be difficult for image-enhancing apps to capture a huge market.
More than 200 million people in the world use Camera360, according to the product’s website. A Chengdu-based startup developed this camera app.
“. . . Chengdu has so many good startup teams, each as good as the best Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have to offer,” said Lanzhou-born Li Xin, CEO of Baotuan Tech Ventures, a venture capital company, according to The Telegraph.
Lonely Planet said that the weather in the second-tier city “is grey and drizzly much of the year,” but for young entrepreneurs, it seems that it’s one fine sunny day to brave the local startup scene in Chengdu.
