Our Playbook for Entering China
China is a game worth playing… if you know the rules.
Many of the founders we meet and digital tech startups we invest in have strong international ambitions… and for good reason. Global expansion is a crucial business development strategy to promote growth. While the US is the typical “next step,” China, as one of the largest economies in the world, is an attractive market for startups, too.
But despite this potential, a European founder who just dives head-first into the Chinese market will likely find themselves overwhelmed by completely unfamiliar market forces and cultural business practices, wasting time and money in the process. In short, many European founders have difficulties of understanding the rules of the game in the Chinese market.
So we prepared some food for thought and first ideas for you to consider as you take your first steps to enter the Chinese market.
The Playbook
To get a clearer picture of the structure of the Chinese market and to clarify what you have to take into account when expanding there as an early-stage startup, we teamed up with Luisa Eggers who wrote her master thesis on “How European Tech Start-Ups Should Enter the Chinese Market” during her time at Speedinvest. Together, we drafted a playbook for any European B2B founders who are considering an expansion into the Chinese market.
The Speedinvest Industrial Tech team invests in seed-stage startups supporting the digitization of Europe’s Industrial Tech sector. So whether you’re reimagining Manufacturing or you are active in Construction Tech, Logistics Tech, Climate Tech, or Mobility Tech, feel free to reach out to andreas.schwarzenbrunner@speedinvest.com.
