HICOOL Global Innovation Competition US Division launched by Plug and Play China

- $11M in cash prizes plus $140M investment for 100 successful startups

- Baidu, IDG, Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Sequoia participate in the competition

- Competition ends in September with innovation summit

- Participating startups are granted access to Plug and Play China's ecosystem and have the chance to meet with local corporates, VCs, and partners as well as participate in accelerator programs and deal flow sessions

News provided by

Plug and Play

Jun 29, 2020, 12:00 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play China is co-hosting the Global Competition with HICOOL and now launch the US division for startups in AI, Fintech, Biotech, Energy, Smart Manufacturing, and 5G. The competition offers $11M in cash prizes plus $140M investment for the top 100 selected startups. Companies will also meet one-on-one with local companies such as Baidu, IDG, Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Sequoia.

The HICOOL Global Entrepreneurship Competition is open to any individual entrepreneur or team of entrepreneurs from around the world with a new or early-stage startup. 100 entrants will be chosen to share in USD $11M (RMB 80 million) of cash prizes, and USD $140M (RMB 1 billion) in VC investment funds.

The competition receives support from powerful innovators such as Alibaba Group, ByteDance, Baidu, Xiaomi, Microsoft, Peking University, Northern Light, Sequoia, IDG Capital Partners, and others.

Speaking at the launch, Robin Li, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO of Baidu Inc. said, "HICOOL is a perfect platform for entrepreneurs to talk about dreams, to chase after dreams, and to realise dreams."

Yong Zhang, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Alibaba, Neil Shen, Global Executive Partner of Sequoia Capital, and Lei Zhang, Founder and CEO of Hillhouse Capital, encouraged entrepreneurs to be confident, persistent, and hardworking.

Jun Lei, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO of Xiaomi Corporation, Qi Lu, Founder and CEO of MiraclePlus, and Hugo Shong, Founder and Chairman of the Board of IDG Capital, also participated in the launch.

The HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Competition will end in September 2020 at the HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Summit in Beijing, where the semi-finals and finals will be held both online and offline in a spectacular summit with music and entertainment, giving investors and entrepreneurs the chance to cultivate business and social relationships.

In July, Plug and Play China will host the competition of the US division and 20 startups will be selected to join the pitch event online. Registration for startups is open until July 15^th. Please send all business proposals to [email protected]

About Plug and Play China

Plug and Play was formally established in Silicon Valley in 2006. With over ten years of development and 20 years of experiences in early-stage investment, Plug and Play has co-working spaces and regional offices in over 30 locations worldwide. Plug and Play invests in over 250 companies per year and has a successful portfolio including PayPal, Dropbox, N26, Rappi, and Honey. Each year they provide innovation services to over 400 major corporations by holding hundreds of events and providing exclusive networking opportunities for startups and corporations.

Founded in 2015, Plug and Play China currently has three regional innovation centers in Beijing (headquarter), Shanghai, and Shenzhen. There are five main business sectors across their platform including investment, corporate innovation, startup incubation and acceleration, cross-border innovation, and co-working space. Plug and Play China has created a multi-dimensional open innovation platform that includes local universities, government agencies, venture capitalists, innovation research labs, and city innovation partners. They have engaged with 100 industry-leading corporations, accelerated over 4,000 startups, and invested in over 130 startups including ApplyBoard, autox, ZiFiSense, and OneSight.

SOURCE Plug and Play