HI-COM ASIA is a professional multilingual translation agency working in more than 40 languages and offering a wide range of services. We work in a wide range of fields including finance, medical, legal, SEO and digital marketing. One of our most recent projects at the end of this year was set up with our IT partner QP Software for the marketing agency DIGITAL RETEX working with the DUCATI brand.

1) Case study – RETEX AGENCY – DUCATI

The project was the Technical SEO Optimization & SEO Optimized Translation into Mandarin for the new version of the website of a major brand: DUCATI, one of the renowned clients of the DIGITAL RETEX agency.

The different translations were in simplified Chinese to meet the brand’s desire to develop in a new and growing market. We took care to optimize the SEO translations in Simplified Chinese by taking into account the different possible meanings from one language to another as well as the localization to the culture and dialects whose words and characters used may have alternative meanings.

2) THE DUCATI BRAND

Ducati is a brand that is part of Italy’s “Made in Italy” heritage and is one of the best known motorcycle brands in the world. Founded in 1926 in Bologna, Italy, the various models of motorcycles offered by the brand are sold all over the world, from Japan to the United States and many European countries. This is why DUCATI now wishes to move into a new market: CHINA.

To do this, the creation of a website in Chinese and referenced on BAIDU is essential.

3) WHAT IS SEO OPTIMIZED TRANSLATION and SEO TECHNICAL OPTIMIZATION?

In order to better understand the project established for DUCATI, it is helpful to ask the question: what is SEO optimization and what are the benefits? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) represents the translation of a website while adapting the words and written content to contain certain keywords in order to improve the referencing of the site. This means that prior to the translation, research must be carried out on the target audience, the market, the competitors and the keywords to be targeted. An SEO-optimized translation will aim to choose keywords that are important to the brand in order to create content around it and thus improve its ranking on search engines in relation to it, here on BAIDU. For a good SEO translation it is also important that the keywords represent popular searches and that they are repeated consistently in the content created. If your site is placed in the highest searches and on the first page you will generate more clicks on your site. More clicks means more traffic and increased sales and therefore more revenue for the brand. For example, if your company is based in Italy and you want to sell your products in China, in order to successfully penetrate the Chinese market, it is essential to optimize your website and content specifically for Chinese consumers.

Baidu has become the leading search engine in China, it has a 90% penetration rate in the Chinese market and holds 68.44% of the search engine market share there. It should be noted that Google is not allowed in China.

Thus, SEO optimization is not enough on its own, the technical optimization of the site must be efficient, otherwise the potential customer may not find your site because BAIDU will not be able to reference it properly if the technical aspects of the back office are missing. What is the purpose of technical SEO? It is to complete and write on each page and article of the site the meta description, title, description of images etc. so that BAIDU knows what the page is about and thus reference it correctly. In this case the algorithms are Chinese and the requests are made in Chinese characters. The indexing robots will focus mainly on Mandarin content. In addition, the IT team can work with software linked to the back office of your website in order to check each step of the process and the functioning of all technical aspects.

Thus, in addition to the creation of content adapted to the market that includes certain SEO keywords, the meta description and title of the pages and articles created is as important as the SEO-optimized translation.

4) OUR WORKING METHOD – OUR PARTNER

HI-COM is a multilingual translation agency dedicated to providing Chinese-specific social media communication and e-commerce marketing services to companies worldwide. Working with over 100 brands, HI-COM is the partner of choice for companies looking to enter the Chinese market. Contact us today for a free consultation!

Our main mission was to ensure that the content we created was translated in an optimized way with respect to searches and keywords while working on the technical aspects to ensure that each page has a unique and optimized meta description, title, and tag as well as keywords.

HI-COM took care of translating the entire original website into Simplified Chinese while making sure to target the keywords in order to integrate them into the translated content and our partner carried out integration of the meta description tags.

Once this work was done, we started the implementation on WORDPRESS in the back office for all the information on the new Chinese version of the website.

We worked on the creation of more than 70 new pages and 200 existing ones. Since this work concerned the Chinese version of the website, the website was adapted for the BAIDU search engine. Baidu is the equivalent of Google in China, as the latter is not allowed in the country. The SEO on BAIDU is somewhat different from the SEO on Google but is still based on the same principles.

Additionally, the choice to translate into simplified Chinese was made because it is now the version of the Chinese language most used in China since the 1960s.

Finally, the META TAG DESCRIPTION is very important for the referencing of the site because it contains html information that search engines use to understand the content of the page. It is also what will appear when your site appears on it and thus allows you to be better referenced if it is well optimized. By optimizing these meta tag descriptions, Baidu users will be able to find you based on the type of product, the name of the brand and the category of the product, all based on keywords to be highlighted in characters and pinyin (written letters) and in simplified Chinese.

At the end of the optimized translation and technical implementation on the site, we conducted an SEO audit to verify the performance of the added and improved points including meta tag description, image formats, page loading speed and broken links or duplicate pages and whether the implementation of the different elements was successful or not.

We would like to thank DIGITAL RETEX and Ducati for trusting us with this project.

Contact us now for your translation projects, web integrations or other projects! 

The year 2020 and the spread of the Covid-19 virus worldwide has put us to the test, not only in terms of health but also economically. Many businesses have not been able to hold out and turn things around in the face of closure which has led to increased unemployment.

However in China, the country where the virus was first discovered, trade, consumers and the economy in general have not suffered enormously and have even continued its economic growth. In this article, we will discover how China has resisted this global economic disaster and how other countries can learn from it.

Even today, in November 2020, many are experiencing a second lockdown, which is therefore synonymous with remote working, closed businesses, and limited consumption, but not for everyone! Indeed, online businesses are not suffering from the expected drop in sales and have even taken advantage of the situation to continue to survive. The importance of being present online today is more than essential in order to survive the pandemic but above all to adapt to new modes of consumption in the future.

China is proof of this and is a digitalized country where most purchases are already made online and delivered instantly such as food, drinks, groceries, clothes, electronic devices and others. It is thanks to this massive digitalization that the Chinese population has survived the possible economic collapse caused by the general lockdowns.

HI-COM is a translation and communication agency with consultants specialized in the Chinese market to help international companies to develop digitally and on the various platforms and Chinese social networks in order to successfully integrate your brand or company in the Chinese market in the Covid era.

1. Case of EUROPE 

Since March 2020, the Covid-19 virus has been present in France and Europe, which led to  France and other European countries being locked down for a period of 2 months. Thus, during this first lockdown, companies had to look for solutions so that employees could continue to work and this is where the concept of remote working took its full meaning. Indeed, partial remote working was a known practice in some companies; it allows the freedom for employees to choose if they want to be at the office, working from home or both. Nevertheless, this practice was not widespread.

Thus, the virus forced many people to work from home and to learn to work in a different way, such as organizing meetings and conferences through ZOOM and communicating remotely.

In order to ensure that the openness and work of some companies was maintained, the importance of developing digitally, especially in this period of crisis, was more than important. In addition, many people at the end of the first lockdown fully adopted remote working, justifying that it was much more efficient with less distraction and greater concentration. This is why it is necessary to take advantage of this context to be present more than ever on the different platforms, to make one’s brand known and to develop it by making it accessible.

Finally, an increased presence of companies online necessarily involves social networks. Social networks are the way to stay in touch with customers and keep them informed of your news, new trends and projects. It is therefore a tool to be favored and put forward for brands to continue to boost business despite the health crisis, especially since social networks today can have the double role of communication but also online commerce with devices put in place to buy products directly.

Nevertheless, as mentioned in the introduction of this article, all this is not new for China which has been using digitalization and social networks for several years and with success. More than one billion Chinese people are connected to the WeChat application that allows them to communicate with each other but also with brands, to consume their products, to be entertained with the lives of their favorite KOL (influencers) while pushing the consumption of the products highlighted but also access to several applications without even leaving WeChat. Thus, online consumption and social networks are not reserved for the young Chinese population and a wealthy population, on the contrary, everyone uses them and must use them to consume their products on a daily basis or pay their rent and electricity.

From a business point of view, in this context of digital development, the Chinese market offers huge opportunities. Nevertheless in China, the context is different from the one we know in Europe, that’s why HI-COM is there to support you in the introduction of your brand in China.

2) Case of China

China was able to develop long before the epidemic, with a widespread use of applications and social networks among its entire population! Indeed, in China, any action requires the use of an application, whether to pay your electricity, register with the police, make an appointment or consult your medical file … everything is digitalized !!!

Thanks to this system it has become normal for both young and old Chinese people to consume everything with their phone, thanks to QR codes, replacing the credit card.

Moreover their payment applications are also full-fledged social networks like WeChat. WeChat is an instant messaging application, with which you can order, consume and chat without moving from the application. Social networks are also very present in the daily life of Chinese consumers. There are other full-fledged Chinese platforms such as RED (XiaoHongShu), Douyin (Tik Tok), or Weibo. These social networks allow consumers to be close to their favorite brand by following all their communication and being close to their KOL which represent the brand.

Thus, in China, the brand-consumer link is quite close and powerful and thus allows to create a complicity that cannot be created by other means.

3) E-commerce in China. : a sector in continuous growth

The turnover of e-commerce in China would amount to 1.94 trillion dollars *according to the report published by the American research firm eMarketer! In addition, China presented this year a continuous growth of 5% !!! Thus, despite the global pandemic that has hit all the world’s businesses, China is not slackening and continues to expand its progress!

E-commerce in China is mainly symbolized by several events: KOL’s live streams and the online sales realized during the 11.11.

– KOL MARKETING

KOLs in China represent Chinese influencers whose main activity is to animate livestreams on live applications: WeChat, Taobao etc. in order to promote products. Chinese consumers can also follow their favorite KOL pages and news. Influencers make a point of honor that all the promoted products have been tested and validated by the influencers themselves. Thus, Chinese consumers have blind confidence in the products presented and will therefore consume many products promoted during these live streams which are also accompanied by promotions with aid purchases.

Currently the number 1 male KOL is Austin Li! He has more than 50 million subscribers and his sales record is 15,000 lipstick tubes sold in only 5 minutes!

As for Viya, she is the number 1 women’s KOL and live seller on Taobao! She made a turnover of more than 19 million Yuan in only 5 hours !!!

Becky Li is the first influencer on WeChat! She made history by selling 100 customizable Mini Cooper cars in less than 5 minutes!

Finally Zola Zhang ! This KOL is known for her page “It was Zola” which alone brought her 5.2 million Euros in sales in 2019.

Thus, KOL marketing is an important component of online commerce in China, which is why it is important for foreign brands to be present on Chinese social networks and to know and master the KOL industry.

HI-COM is able to represent you with KOL to promote your brand in China.

– 11.11 : Important day for e-commerce in China

November 11th or more commonly known as Double 11 is Singles Day! To celebrate this day, China is planning a large number of discounts across all industries!

This is the largest online promotion event ever held, with numbers exceeding those of Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, which shows the importance of this event to e-commerce!

Alibaba’s various platforms have thus seen a turnover of 372.3 billion Yuan (47.7 billion euros) this year since November 1st,

Alibaba traditionally announces a new sales record on November 11th. Last year, he reported a turnover of 268.4 billion Yuan (34.74 billion Euros) in 24 hours, up 26% over the previous year.

Thus, the growth of online commerce in China shows the importance of being present and developing on social networks to continue to boost sales and business and take advantage of this context to change your habits when a foreign brand or company!

5) Social networks and digital marketing

As you will have understood, to survive the new ecosystem we are facing, and to succeed in the Chinese market to take advantage of the various opportunities, it is essential to rely on social networks and digital marketing.

HI-COM is able to help you on social networks because of its establishment in 3 cities in China, which makes it an expert in this market.

Chinese applications are very different from those known and used in Europe. Indeed, in China, the Chinese don’t have access to Instagram or Facebook or Youtube, that’s why they have created their own application used by a large part of the population.

Thus HI-COM is able to help you to develop and write in Chinese on these social networks. Among the different actions we will help you to :

• Configure your social networks
• Establish a strategy
• Analysis of overall performance
• Analysis of the competition

But also for the creation of your content, the management of your community or the sponsoring of campaigns.

As indicated, HI-COM is able to present you KOL in order to get a promotion of your products on certain social networks. But also in the implementation of strategy on WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Weibo or livestream.

Contact us to get a free quote! 

Your industries is in need for professional translators? Despite the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has damaged the travel and tourism industries, the world is still more keenly connected than ever before. It’s all due to the availability and reliability of internet infrastructure (supported by widespread digital training). Within a few seconds, almost anyone can start a discussion with someone thousands of miles away.

This has a couple of interesting and contrasting effects. Firstly, it reminds us all that we’re not so different. We’re all looking for conversation and connection. Secondly, it makes it abundantly clear how differently we communicate. Two people from similar parts of the world can run into terms they use distinctly, so international exchanges can be highly confusing.

In casual chats, we can rely on automated translation services — but they’re seriously limited in what they can achieve, particularly when it comes to nuance and context. In the business world, there’s often a need for manual translation from highly-trained professionals like HI-COM. In this post, we’re going to look at four particular industries that need professional translators in 2020. Let’s begin.

SaaS

The SaaS world (SaaS standing for software as a service) has risen dramatically in popularity during the lockdowns of 2020, making it possible for companies of many kids to pivot to remote working. Whether it’s the broad productivity enhancement of G Suite or the meeting-managing videoconferencing of Zoom, professionals of most stripes can get their work done from home.

Since the pandemic has affected (almost) the entire world, though, the demand for software has been global, which means that any ambitious SaaS developer will want to at least consider offering their services internationally — and that demands professional translation to ensure that the navigational elements make total sense and there’s a consistently-good user experience. Even mild awkwardness in the translation of a menu item can lead to a terrible user experience that ends up damaging the brand’s reputation.

Ecommerce

People stuck at home this year (during the middle of the year in particular) had little choice but to turn to online retail to collect supplies: after all, most brick-and-mortar stores were shuttered, and visiting those still open — those considered essential — was an intimidating prospect. This led to online sellers seeing their profits rise instead of fall.

At the same time, ecommerce became appealing to them for another reason: it offered a route to making money while they were unable to work due to COVID-19. Setting up a modern online store is extremely easy and not at all expensive, and fulfilment methods such as dropshipping allow novice sellers to operate without needing to directly source any products.

Since ecommerce is heavily international (in addition to importing from it, many Western sellers now export their wares to China), it requires some diligent translation to ensure that products are tagged correctly, descriptions sound natural, and all associated marketing campaigns are designed to meet the needs and preferences of their target local audiences.

Law

There are two big reasons why taking legal action has seemed worthwhile to so many people this year. With so many jobs being lost and people struggling to make ends meet, they’ve been driven to seek legal justice somehow — looking for the law to step in when they’ve been treated unfairly by their employers. Additionally, the general unrest stemming from so many people being stuck at home (and from global protests) has led to interpersonal tensions.

Now, legal language can be difficult enough to parse when you’re using just one language, so what about when a tourist stuck in a country during a quarantine period needs to make a legal case for financial aid or another form of support? They need professional assistance to get their thoughts across clearly and ensure that nothing is lost in translation.

Healthcare

On the whole, there’s a strong case to be made that the healthcare industry has the biggest need for professional translators, and the justification is fairly obvious. This virus needs to be tracked and analysed on a global scale, which means speaking to presumed or confirmed sufferers from throughout the world — and that conversation can’t be vague. It needs to touch upon the exact details: when symptoms began, what they involved, how they felt, etc.

Even a small misunderstanding during this process of analysis can lead to flawed conclusions, and those flawed conclusions can spawn significant setbacks in the treatment process. Professional translators in the healthcare world, then, are absolutely essential in 2020, and efforts to combat COVID-19 would be doomed without them.

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HI-COM is a multilingual communication agency dedicated to provide high-quality translation to businesses around the world. Working with more than 100 brands, HI-COM is the go-to partner of companies!! Contact us for your free consultation today!

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On Tuesday, HI-COM provided two of their best interpreters to translate (from English to Chinese), Socialbakers’ business conference and networking event.

On Tuesday, HI-COM provided two of their best interpreters to translate (from English to Chinese) Socialbakers’ business conference and networking event.

The Shanghai event took place at the Bund from midday on 5th November 2019 and had over fifty attendees.  The Conference and Networking event, Engaging a Global Audience Through Social Media, was delivered by highly-skilled guest speakers to provide greater insight into the era of globalisation and connectivity. They discussed how businesses in China should harness the power of social media in order to discover new opportunities and integrate into the global digital ecosystem.

Based in the Czech Republic, and founded in 2008, Socialbakers are a trusted social media marketing partner to thousands of enterprise brands, including over one hundred companies on the list of Fortune Global 500. Leveraging the largest social media data-set in the industry, their marketing suite of solutions helps brands to ensure their investment in social media is delivering measurable business outcomes.  Socialbakers have become one of the industry leaders in social media marketing solutions as they now monitor over 8 million social profiles across all major online networking platforms.

Here at HI-COM, we believe that effective interpretation goes beyond just language fluency, and is about understanding cultural nuances, speaking idiomatically and being experienced in the field that is being translated. HI-COM provides reliable and cost-effective Interpreting services, with a network of highly skilled, qualified and experienced multi-linguists.

Today, the gaming industry shares a community of over 2 billion people and it’s only expected to grow.

According to figures in 2018, the gaming industry made over $134 billion and predictions show that those figures are expected double yet again, by 2025.  The gaming industry has now become bigger than both the film and music industries combined, which could be responsible for the rapid growth in online gaming languages and explain how they have become so globally recognized. 

Today, the gaming industry shares a community of over 2 billion people and it’s only expected to grow.

According to figures in 2018, the gaming industry made over $134 billion and predictions show that those figures are expected double yet again, by 2025.  The gaming industry has now become bigger than both the film and music industries combined, which could be responsible for the rapid growth in online gaming languages and explain how they have become so globally recognized.  

Global gaming revenue

There are over 7.6 billion people in the world and just under a third of those are gamers, playing from either their PC, tablets, consoles or mobile phones. Research has shown that on a global scale, 54% of video game players are male, whilst 46% are female.

Unsurprisingly, China and the USA are at the top of the list of countries that bring in the most revenue from game sales. According to Newzoo, here are the top 14 countries and territories with regards to online gaming presence:

What languages should you translate your game into?

As mentioned above, a wide variety of countries have an increasingly popular gaming culture which brings in millions of dollars in revenue per year.  With this is in mind, translation and communication in a variety of spoken languages are an integral factor when hoping to target consumers within those markets.

Mandarin is the most widely spoken language, with over 1 billion speakers worldwide. After the console ban was recently lifted, China now has the largest global internet user-ship and brings in the biggest gaming revenue in the world. Another successful language choice would be English, as it is spoken in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, who all respectively contribute to the top 15 global gaming countries list.

Below is a list of the top 10 languages that we recommend localizing your game into:

• English
• Mandarin (Simplified Chinese)
• Japanese
• Korean
• French
• German
• European Spanish
• Italian
• Russian
• Latin American Spanish

Research has also shown that the following languages have the highest three-year growth rate for gaming revenue:

• Turkish
• Malay
• Hindi
• Thai
• Polish

Why is it important to localize a game?

Localizing games is more than just translating text. It involves quality assurances, testing the integration of the translated text and adapting the right text to the requirements of the specific region. This can vary from country to culture.  For example, in Australia alcohol and drugs cannot be shown in video games, whilst countries such as China don’t allow blood, skulls or any religious symbolism.

Comedian Kumail Najiani, revealed Call of Duty’s recent mishap, where the famous video game used the wrong national language for its location in Karachi, Pakistan, as it showed Arabic signs rather than Urdu signs. For a video game that took 3 years to make, this highlights the importance of research and localizing effectively.

Click here to find Kumail’s stand up piece regarding the Call of Duty game.

Gaming language dictionary

Darassian, Wenja, Simlish, Dovahzul and Al Bhed are all popular fictional languages in the gaming world. Here’s our mini-language dictionary for the top gaming languages:

The language of the game Darnassian

Darnassian is the primary language of the night elves in world of warcraft. Here are some Darnassian phrases:

An’da = father

Min’da = mother

Ande’thoras-ethil = May your troubles be diminished

Bandu Thoribas! = Prepare to fight!

Ishnu-alah = Good fortune to you

The language of the game Far Cry Primal

Far Cry Primal, literally brought back the stone age languages. Ubisoft worked with linguistics to try to recreate features of a language that had actually been spoken thousands of years ago. It is called Porto-Indo-European language. Wenja is one of the tribes in the Far Cry Primal world. They speak the Wenja language. Here are some Wenja phrases:

Smarka = hello

Ku-ta su? = how are you?

Wisya = poison

Kala = beautiful

Pracham = please

The language of the game Simlish

Simlish is the language from the popular game, The Sims. Will Wright who created The Sims, created a ‘nonsense language’ so that the meaning could be more imaginative to the players. Here are some Simlish phrases:

Sul sul = Hello/Goodbye

Ongie: Selfie!

Litzergam / Vadish = Thank You

Jadosi = I love this

Wut sa dib: What’s up dude

The language of the game Dovahzul

Dovahzul is the dragon language used in the popular game, The Elder scrolls vs Skyrim. It is spoken by the dragons and ancient Nords. Here are some Dovahzul phrases:

Bo paaz? = how are you?

Zu’u pruzah = I am good

Zu’u piraak bahlok = I am hungry

Krosis = excuse me

Tinvaak hi Dovahzul? = Do you speak Dovahzul?

The language of the game Al Bhed

Al Bhed is the language spoken by the Al bhed tribe in the Final Fantasy game. The Al Bhed language is a cypher of the Japanese and English languages. Here are some Al Bhed phrases:

Rammu = hello

ruf yna oui? = how are you?

Hela do saad oui = Nice to meet you

Kuutpoa = Goodbye

Vyhmuna ec yfacusa = Fanlore is awesome

Now you’re all set to immerse yourself in the gaming world. Feel free to share this gaming knowledge with your family, friends and co-workers!

For more information on translation or localization please feel free to get in touch.

If you are thinking of starting a business and raising funds, China could be a good option for you – after all it is a land of millions of startups, both Chinese and Foreign owned. But how do you really get your foot in the door of this Asian tech paradise? Finding the right incubator and accelerator might just be what you need! If you are thinking of starting a business and raising funds, China could be a good option for you – after all it is a land of millions of startups, both Chinese and Foreign owned. But how do you really get your foot in the door of this Asian tech paradise? Finding the right incubator and accelerator might just be what you need!

International Incubators in China: a perfect way for everyone to start up a business

One place of great interest is an incubator called the K-tech Innovation Hub. It’s a host for Chinese and Foreign startups that provides businesses with a good environment and lets entrepreneurs try out their skills in the Chinese market. Located in Hongqiao hub, a developing area with quick access to bullet trains, air travel and other convenient modes of transportation, making it one of the highlights of this incubator and accelerator. Considering that entrepreneurs often visit factories in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, the location was a pretty good choice. Exciting startup profiles vary from tech to fashion. Just recently a French entrepreneur who started his business in China by tapping into the field of AI, joined K-tech. With the aim of developing a pilot product prototype, he is looking to obtain proof of concept, right after which he will be able to receive his first funding by a K-tech investment fund or from an outside investor.

Entrepreneur visa to China

Another reason entrepreneurs are joining K-tech is because it enables them to apply for China’s new “entrepreneur visa”, for which K-tech is providing full support. Private incubators work with the government, in order to assure a smooth landing procedure (visa, tax and document declaration, internet access etc.).

“60% of investments fail”

The entrepreneur visa is issued for a period of one year, without the possibility to extend it. In order to obtain this visa, your project must meet the criteria of the incubator. The rest of the documents are collected easily, and your visa and a space in K-tech is something that can be arranged within a few days! K-tech is gaining its respectable reputation for a great community of mentors, pitching meetings and startup boot camp programs. It’s a perfect place for a students and young entrepreneurs to try out their luck and skills in China. As a private incubator, K-tech provides a special space for founders from China and abroad to meet and exchange ideas and even cooperate and find the benefits of both ecosystems. The incubator and accelerator welcomes cooperation of any kind. One popular activity involves organizing weekly pitch events on different topics, inviting startups from outside as well as within the K-tech community to pitch to a potential investor, and find a match. There is a mix of Chinese and foreign startups pitching weekly, with a possible translation option on-site.

Your start up in China: How to join an accelerator program

The procedure for joining the incubator is quite easy! A startup presents a tech related business plan, after which K-tech will evaluate it and in case of acceptance, will propose one of the various program packages they provide.

 “To reach 5M RMB in revenue, it takes a minimum of 2 years”

Mr. Zhang, the director of Investments of K-tech also stated that in order to be financed by the incubator’s fund, a company  needs the following requirements:

• Incubation in K-tech
• Within the first two years reach up to 20 or more employees
• Have a yearly revenue of 5 million RMB (750K USD), and feature on the list of possible K-tech investments.

How much can you receive in funding from incubator funding? K-tech will provide funding of 5-10 million RMB, and assistance on finding local resources and clients. That is against 10-20% of the shares. The screening process includes:

• Product core advantages
• CEO and CTO profiles, skills, compatibility with the new business model/product/market, ability to find clients, etc.

The screening time is 3-4 months. Keep in mind that after 4 years (from the investment date) K-tech will withdraw the investment or sell their shares to other investors.

Raising funds: what types of startups are receiving the most funding?

According to Mr. Zhang the best sectors to invest in are technology and AI. Some special industries such as medical tech are attracting fewer investors, due to longer lead times from research and development to product launch (at least 5 years). One of K-tech’s startups called Cleantonic, was running a business generating 20M RMB in revenue, when Mr. Zhang noticed them. After evaluation of the company, Mr. Zhang on behalf of the investment fund he represents invested 10M (which is approximately 15% of the shares). In just over a year, Mr. Zhang sold his shares for 25M. The main reason of such success is that after the investment, the companies’ revenue went from 20M to 1.5B. K-tech invests in 2-5 companies in a year, with a maximum fund available per startup of 30M RMB. K-tech is ready to support their startups during the first two years, including policy support (up to 1M RMB), and help in finding customers. Fully foreign owned companies can’t profit from policy support, but can still benefit from tax breaks.

Didi has lowered its average taxi prices to as low as 0.5 USD per trip! Wondering what happened? Do the taxi drivers benefit from this deal? Today we took a look at Chinese media, and also interviewed a few drivers to shed more light on the topic!

Uber entered the Chinese market in August 2013, but after 3 years of competing with the local unicorns of the same business model, Uber was forced to sell it’s Chinese subsidiaries to DiDi in 2016. DiDi will also obtained a minority equity interest in Uber. Under the terms of the deal, Cheng Wei has become a board member of Uber and Travis Kalanick has got a seat on DiDi’s board. But the story does not end there.

It all started when China’s most famous food delivery service entered the taxi game:

1. Why did DiDi cut their prices?

On March 21st, 2018 Meituan Taxi was officially launched in Shanghai, quickly changing the landscape of the Shanghai car sharing scene. At the 2018 China Development Forum held on the 24^th of March, WANG Xing, the CEO of Meituan  announced that Meituan Taxi has taken 1/3 of the market share in Shanghai, with the Meituan App being the fourth most downloaded App in the Apple Store. Therein, users and drivers are enjoying the greatest benefits as companies such as Meituan, DiDi and Yidao are all launching concessionary campaigns. In particular, Meituan and DiDi have handed out the most coupons in the market, and drivers are also enjoying various forms of subsidies as various platforms aim to attract them. A reporter from Beijing Youth Newspaper has found that Meituan and DiDi share almost the same product pricing rules and their current competitive focus is on coupons. According to numerous passengers, DiDi has recently been handing out more coupons.

Source: http://www.jfdaily.com/news/detail?id=84613

In our independent research we found out that by providing super attractive prices to their passengers, DiDi also doubles the amount per trip for their drivers. This way the drivers won’t get too attached to a rival’s new app, and the passengers will be seduced by almost free rides. We don’t know if this new pricing policy will go continue in the long run, but we, and I’m sure many others, certainly enjoyed the last 2 weeks of it!

2. Meituan Taxi… A way to prevent a DiDi monopoly?

The two main reasons for Meituan entering the taxi service sector:

a. To look for a new growth area. There are extremely low gross profits for Meituan’s existing takeout services and little possibility of growth. The subsidy war against Ali in the movie sector has become a stalemate and Meituan has not gained much market share in the travel sectors with Ctrip and Fliggy being dominant players. Meituan has to look for a new way to gain profit, and as well as taxi services, Meituan is likely to enter into other large and upcoming consumer fields already verified by the market, such as offline retailing, second-hand cars, e-business and online education. Meituan is most likely going to expand into the second-hand car and online education market.

b. To maintain high growing valuation. If Meituan wants to make further progress on their existing valuation of $30 billion, Meituan has to continuously enrich its concepts and business lines. Markets that are already verified can theoretically be promising area for growth.

Meituan is a capital-driven enterprise. It will be appealing for investors as long as it can maintain high-speed growth. In order to achieve this, Meituan needs fresh selling points and new business lines. To a certain extent, maintaining high-speed growth is more important than spending money efficiently in the early stages of development.

Taxi services have been verified as a high-frequency industry, while the takeout market is an even higher-frequency industry. Meituan, moving from a high-frequency field into relatively low-frequency field could, to some extent, be beneficial. Driven by high capital, Meituan can rapidly gain market share by offering certain subsidies. Also, existing users’ familiarity with the brand could help guarantee market share. As long as Meituan can continue offering subsidies, Meituan Taxi can eventually break “DiDi’s dominant situation” in the market and form a binary market structure.

It is rather logical for Meituan to enter the taxi service market. Instead of aiming to overtake DiDi in this market, Meituan’s goal is to take up market share, as this can ensure that Meituan can maintain high valuation. Similar to JD’s positioning within the e-business sector where there are two giants, as long as the market value of Alibaba is growing, JD is merely the competitor that enjoys wide development spaces and its valuation should increase rapidly.

At present, the valuation of DiDi is $57.6 billion. If Meituan Taxi can occupy a certain percentage in national taxi markets, even only 20%, Meituan can enjoy an increase of $10 billion in valuation and the overall valuation will increases by 30%. In comparison, Maoyan Movie, which gained $20 billion in valuation six years after its launch, a mature industry like taxi service is undoubtedly easier and faster for Meituan’s to increase its valuation. Even if the subsidy can no longer support Meituan Taxi, a quick sale of Meituan Taxi could earn generate a lot of money, as was the case with Maoyan Movie when it was sold to ENLIGHT MEDIA.

Source: http://tech.ifeng.com/a/20180331/44926387_0.shtml

3. DiDi’s revenge and its entry into the food delivery market.

Faced with a head-on attack from Meituan, CHENG Wei took a page out of LI Guoqing’s book, who, when dealing with LIU Qiangdong’s cross-sector entry into the book market, said that “If your competitor has lit a fire in your back yard, you shall light a fire in his as well” It seems plausible as both sides are complementing their own industrial chains and ecology. However, Meituan and DiDi share significantly different strategies.

DiDi takeout is more like a defense strategy carried out in order to defend the attack of Meituan. In the interview with SONG Wei, CHENG Wei responded that “to be a diversified company is a strategic failure”. On March 6^th, DiDi entered into nine second-tier cities introducing DiDi takeout. After becoming a giant in the taxi industry, DiDi has been diversifying itself across different markets. The Low gross profits in takeout services and extremely little complementarity with the DiDi taxi service are bound to slow DiDi’s performances, thus leading to extensions to its profit schedule.

Based on CHENG Wei’s professional thought pattern and the size of the taxi market, DiDi takeout is purely a strategic action to counter Meituan. Those who attempt to calculate DiDi takeout valuations based on the profits of Uber Eats can have a look at the weak correlation between Uber Eats and the Uber business itself. In addition, minor high-value and delicate food platforms are bound to fail against giants such as Meituan takeout and E’LEME in China’s market.

Source:  http://tech.ifeng.com/a/20180331/44926387_0.shtml

4. Is Meituan able to compete with DiDi?

Strategically, Meituan will take away parts of DiDi’s shares to some extent, but not as much as envisioned. With the continuous subsidy from DiDi, Meituan taxi might become the second choice for users and shares for both parties will remain relatively stable. In the takeout sector, DiDi’s entry into the initial market pattern formed by Meituan takeout and E’LEME is likely to make Meituan play a similar role as Baidu Takeouts, and this will slow DiDi’s revenue and future strategy.

It is predicted that DiDi takeout may merge into E’LEME and continue its focus on the taxi industry after DiDi successfully pushed down the market shares of Meituan taxi.

Source: http://tech.ifeng.com/a/20180331/44926387_0.shtml