SANTA CLARA, Calif., October 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- 2013 the First Zhongguancun-Silicon Valley Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition came to an end successfully at Santa Clara Convention Center, California. Starting this May, the competition has attracted over 200 high-tech startups from USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Japan and other countries. After the initial screening and semi-final, 12 startups were selected into the final, all of which are from the States and cover different sectors including TMT, health care, new materials and so on. Mr. Junming Wang, Science and Technology Counselor of Consulate General of China in San Francisco, attended the competition and delivered an opening speech.
Judges of the final include David Chao, Co-Founder and General Partner of DCM; Dario Mutabdzija, Co-founder and President of BlueSeed Incubator; Eugene Zhang, CEO of Innospring; John Yu, Co-Founder and Managing Director of WestSummit Capital; Keith Teare, Co-founder of TechCrunch; Larry Li, Partner of zPark Venture; Michael Jin, Vice President of Tsinghua Entrepreneur and Executive Club; Ping Wu, Founding Partner of Summitview Capital; Wei Zhou, CEO of Centrillion and Chairman of Hysta; and Weijie Yun, Co-founder of Telegent Systems Inc.
All teams had a 6-minute demo and 3-minute Q&A session with the judges. After intensive competition, 3 teams that received the highest score from the judges won the top 3 prizes. The 1st prize winner is Aptitude, a Santa Barbara based startup. This company focuses on developing products that allow detection and manipulation of proteins for cancer, autoimmune, heart disease, and personalized drug response. Their systems are integrated in devices which are deployable outside of central facilities, directly at the point of care. Their founders are alumni of University of California, Santa Barbara, where all of them obtained the doctor's degree. They raised seed capital of US$ 1 million before the competition.
The 2nd prize is won by PolymerGreen, whose proprietary technology converts all types (#1-#7) of waste plastic into gasoline, diesel and fuel oils through catalytic depolymerization. The team members are graduates from Stanford and MIT. Prior to founding PolymerGreen, they undertook numerous projects from China, Israel and Belgium. The 3rd prize winner is a San Jose-based startup named Trustlook, which pioneers in the next generation mobile security solutions. It is founded less than 3 months but has successfully raised seed capital of US$ 1.4 million. Founders worked for Palo Alto Networks prior to that.
Finalists of 2013 the First Zhongguancun-Silicon Valley Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition
Rank | Company Name |
1 | Aptitude |
2 | Polymer Green |
3 | Trustlook |
4 | zPlas Technologies |
5 | Gene Rock |
6 | China Electronic Mask |
7 | Paymentwall |
8 | Airogami |
9 | Axiobionics |
10 | Ivylla |
11 | Simnect |
12 | Fotavo |
Overview of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition
The purpose of 2013 the First Zhongguancun-Silicon Valley Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition is to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, explore high-tech talents and promote the integration of technology and finance. The competition will bring together the most innovative start-ups in the two regions.
The competition will be opened for U.S. and Chinese startups and provide an opportunity for communications among US and Chinese entrepreneurs, and the organizing committee will invite the 12 final teams from Silicon Valley region to take part in the Communication Conference with counterparts from the Beijing region. Renowned experts from VC firms as well as incubators will be judging the competition.
As for the two regions, one is the hotbed of strategic emerging industries in China and the other is the old-brand Holy Land for entrepreneurs in U.S.; Zhongguancun-Silicon Valley Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition across the two regions will be a splendid platform for entrepreneurs.
About Entrepreneur China
Founded in 2007, Entrepreneur China was co-invested by IDG and other world-renowned VC firms. Entrepreneur China has a content partnership with Entrepreneur Media Inc in the U.S. Entrepreneur China serves as a partner for Chinese entrepreneurs to succeed. Entrepreneur China Magazine is a monthly commercial journal focusing on innovation, start-ups and their growth. CYZONE.cn is the most influential domestic portal and interactive platform focusing on entrepreneurs and start-ups. Kuailiyu.com is one of the top tech blogs in China. Entrepreneur China also hosts a series of influential events including DEMO CHINA, The Hot 100 of Entrepreneur China, China Franchise 50, Entrepreneur China Annual Forum, DEMO CHINA club.
