Shanghai— A Globally Connected City with a Vibrant Startup Scene

Executive Summary

• With 24-million inhabitants, Shanghai is the largest city in China and ample grounds for consumer-facing businesses.
• The city is well known as both a global financial center and a world-class shipping hub. Not only are there a number of top venture capital (VC) firms, but several large, highly-rated universities as well, two of the main building blocks of a successful startup ecosystem.
• Shanghai’s government supports innovation and startups through various subsidy programs such as a risk-compensation policy, which covers as much as 60% of any actual losses due to the failure of seed investments. This applies not only to startups, but VC firms and investors as well.