Creel Price’s angel investment firm, Investible, is on the hunt for champion tech startups seeking Series A or B capital, to be part of China’s annual Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) this July.
Now in its seventh year, OTEC in Beijing is one of the world’s largest VC events, and last year attracted more than 200 participants from 50 nations, including the US, Germany, France, and Israel.
Along with the chance to win 1,000,000 RMB (AU$210,000) for your startup, a RMB 5 million ($1.05m) entrepreneurship loan is also up for grabs. On top of the funds comes the chance for early stage startups to raise their profile in innovation-hungry China.
Investible is looking for an Australian venture to take to the 2019 semi-finals as part of their fourth visit to OTEC, with cofounder Creel Price encouraging startups with an established customer base and revenue stream to enter the search competition. The VC firm has also cast its net into Southeast Asia for the first time as part of seven pitch heats to find contenders.
The pitch heats kick off in Jakarta today, April 29, and there’s one in Sydney on May 14 – details here. There others are in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and winds up in Singapore on May 17.
What Price and the Investible team are looking for is innovative startups, as judged on their founding team, market traction and ability to scale technology into new markets based on the Invisibility Index.
And speed and clarity of vision are also vital: teams will have four minutes to pitch and four minutes for Q&A.
As the victim of “thousands of over-engineered pitches”, Price’s tip is to anyone entering is be succinct, speak frankly, with confidence and authenticity, and have an ask of investors with a monetary value.
“If you can’t say what you do in one succinct sentence, that an average person would understand, then chances are the average angel investor won’t understand either,” he said.
The winning startup from each country will receive flights and accommodation to complete at the OTEC semi-finals in Kunming, along with connections with China’s top venture capitalists, peer-to-peer networking with other exceptional global startups, and a one-on-one investment meeting with Investible’s investment team.
Price said Investible want to extend the search to southeast Asia as part of its expansion into the region.
“There’s often too much tunnel vision focused on Silicon Valley or Tel Aviv. Investors sometimes forget that these Asian nations are just one flight away from Australia, the USA and the UK, and have economies that are uniquely placed to nurture high-growth start-ups,” he said.
Investible recently expanded its operations to the Asian markets, launching Club Investible Singapore, and sponsoring start-up pitches at OTEC Beijing and Techsauce Thailand.
Entering Investible’s OTEC pitch heats is free. For more info and to submit your pitch deck, check out the VC firm’s events page here.
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