Investment in Chinese startups not overheated: entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs attending the 18th annual Harvard China Forum on Sunday believed that investment in Chinese startups was based on reality and was not overheated.

"There's no bubble in the startup investments in China now," Tang Hesong, partner with IDG Capital, told 200 audiences at Harvard.

"Bubbles are bound to burst, but those concepts upon which Chinese startups are based are realistic," he added.

Tang's words were echoed by Victor Wang, co-founder and partner of Zhen Fund, a leading Chinese seed fund established in 2011. He was also a speaker at the forum.

"Chinese startup teams are more mature than they were three years ago. There's a trend that researchers from overseas technology companies and R&D institutions are coming back to China to start up their own businesses," said Wang.

"These overseas returnees have enough expertise and experience to attract much more seed fund. The investment expansion is very reality-based, definitely not overheated," added Wang.

In fact, entrepreneurs held that the environment for startups in China is getting better.

"On the one hand, if you have an innovative idea in today's China, you can easily get funded, there's more than enough money for innovative sector investments," said Louis Gao, co-founder and CEO of personal transport device maker Ninebot.

"On the other, the government has been encouraging entrepreneurship, as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang mentioned 'maker' for the first time in his government report lately," said Gao.

Business magnates at the forum also gave some predication over the most potential investment sectors in the country. In their opinions, intelligent hardware and 3D printers are among the most promising fields. Endi