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December 29, 2015

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

The town that helps turn dreams to reality

By Xu Wenwen | December 29, 2015, Tuesday | Print Edition

WAKE up in a loft apartment, walk five minutes to work, brainstorm with peers, meet investors and go for a nearby hotpot and some karaoke after work. This is Dream Town, where dreams can be turned into reality.

The town, in the suburban district of Yuhang, has been dubbed “Hangzhou’s Silicon Valley” since it opened earlier this year. It now houses 400-plus companies employing 4,000 young people, most 30 or younger.

This is a town created for entrepreneurs, people with innovative ideas they are itching to test and businesses that want to be at the cutting edge of Internet technology.

One of the occupants is the company that developed Wanzi Earth, an app that connects Chinese tourists to overseas Chinese willing to act as local tour guides. The fee for the service is paid via the app, and the company gets a commission on each transaction.

Wanzi Earth users multiplied 10-fold to more than 40,000 this year. Many overseas Chinese offering to become tour guides have made a lot of money from the app. One man living in Japan earned 300,000 yuan in six months.

After working in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, the Wanzi Earth team of 25 young employees decided to settle in Dream Town. Once there, the company received venture capital investment of 20 million yuan (US$3 million) from Internet giant Alibaba, which is also headquartered in Hangzhou.

“Dream Town is very much like the Silicon Valley in early days,” said Song Haibo, founder and chief executive of Wanzi Earth.

Song noted the proximity of Zhejiang University and Internet companies like Alibaba, forming symbiotic relationships reminiscent of Silicon Valley neighbors Stanford University and firms like Hewlett-Packard.

The early days of Silicon Valley also provided cheap office rentals to start-up companies. In Dream Town, “every worker gets a 10-square-meter office rent-free for first three years and a company gets up to 150 square meters,” said Liang Jie, who works in the central office of Dream Town.

She said Dream Town aims to attract 2,000 start-ups and 300 investment companies in coming years.

“We have success stories happen almost every day in the town,” Liang added.

Indeed, the town is brimming with an aura of achievement and potential.

For start-up companies like Bombvote, the town has opened new vistas. Co-founder Nie Jianhua said it used to be very difficult to find qualified staff when he was working in a classroom seconded from a college. Since his company moved to Dream Town, he said, talent and capital have come knocking on his door.

Dream Town isn’t only about ideas and work. It is a full-service community that includes apartments, gyms, karaoke bars, cafes, shops and a large canteen. It is also hosts 14 “incubators” created to nurture start-ups.

Beehive Capital, the incubator for Bombvote, helped the app company receive angel capital of 2 million yuan.

Zhu Jian, operations director of Beehive, said the incubator also provides start-ups physiological support, training and consulting from experienced entrepreneurs.

Bombvote is an app for users to vote on “either-or” questions. “Would either Sherlock or Sheldon win if they had a debate? Would you choose either a room in a big city or a house in a small city?

The app does not rely on advertising or user fees for its revenue. The data it collects provide market research for businesses willing to pay for the information.

Light-Hi Technology Co, another occupant of Dream Town, developed a full-spectrum light called Gooro in a sphere only slightly larger than a tennis ball. It emits light similar to that of natural sunshine. A magnet attached to the device allows it to be attached to any metal surface.

Once connected to the Gooro app, it serves an “alarm clock” by emitting light to coincide with the dawning of morning light. It can be used to provide light to tropical plants or can be set to remind people when to go to work or when to go to bed.

“We invented this product to meet a need in the market,” said Cheng Zhang, founder of the company. “Information technology is a bonus that expands its functions.”

Light-Hi employs 10 people and has received angel investment of 2 million yuan. Its Gooro product is scheduled to officially come to market next year.

Hangzhou


 

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