Nordic accelerator launches in Shanghai, joining wave of expat-preneurs in China

Photo credit: Oliver Cole / Unsplash.

In a WeWork office overlooking central Shanghai, a cohort of Scandinavian entrepreneurs pitch to a throng of investors, startup folk, and fellow northern Europe expats. It’s the debut of nHack, the first accelerator in China designed exclusively for Nordic startups interested in the country’s enormous market.

The goal is to pair great technology and design from Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark with Chinese investors, business partners, customers, and the country’s hardware supply chain.

You need to be in China to succeed in China.

“From experience, you need to be in China to succeed in China,” Jon Stø, partner of nHack, tells Tech in Asia. “I think very few companies succeed in China by sitting in their own country and trying to remote control [from afar].”

The accelerator, which formally launched last Wednesday, will invest US$25,000 to US$100,000 into accepted startups in exchange for seven to 10 percent equity. Follow-on funding after the program is also an option, depending on the startup’s performance. The program will run for three to five months and plans to organize a demo day for its startups on December 6 and 7.

So far, nHack is only accepting Nordic startups. The current batch includes hardware, virtual reality, agriculture tech, and gaming companies.

When I ask Stø about China’s notoriously cutthroat market – especially for hardware companies – he remains optimistic.

“Of course I think there are challenges in a foreign market, especially in a market where you don’t speak the language and there are cultural differences,” he says. “At the same time, I think, if you have a good product […] you will get business in China.”

China-bound

The past few years have seen a slew of overseas organizations, such as Chinaccelerator, StartupEast, and Startupbootcamp, enter China in hopes of helping entrepreneurs from their respective countries succeed in Asia’s largest market. At the same time, local governments and organizations in China have been opening their doors to foreign tech talent.

The Nordic region, whose combined population roughly equals Shanghai, has seen an increasing amount of cross-border activity with China. Slush, a volunteer-run startup conference born out of Helsinki, Finland, launched its first conference in China last year. 2016 also saw Tencent’s US$8.6 billion acquisition of Finnish gaming company Supercell, maker of Clash of Clans.

The Chinese tech giant was also rumored to have approached Swedish unicorn Spotify for acquisition earlier this year before being rebuffed, according to TechCrunch.

We want to bring Nordic companies first to Shanghai, then to China, and then to Asia.

“We want to bring Nordic companies first to Shanghai, then to China, and then to Asia,” says Stø.