5 French firms win support to start up in Chinese market

PARIS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The list of winning startups of this year's Impact China competition was unveiled by organizers government-run trade promotion agency Business France and investment bank Bpifrance on Wednesday.

The winners, Carfit, Exagan, Platform.sh, Quividi and Sigfox, get a personalized program and tools to set up operations in China and respond to the needs of "one of the world's leading digital players with over 750 million Internet users," a statement from the organizers said.

A Franco-Chinese jury selected the five startups "based on the innovative nature of their product or service, their suitability with the expectations of the Chinese market, the robustness of their business model and the degree of involvement of the teams in the project."

"China is a colossal market where the middle class is looking for quality and innovation. French startups must consider this as part of their business plan," said Thomas Vial, director of the Tech and Services Department of Business France China, in charge of the Impact China program.

"The startups of this new Impact China session have everything to succeed but will have to challenge and adapt their offer. The objective is to save them two years in their strategy -- to sign first contracts and finally to establish themselves," he added. Enditem