Innovation drives angel investment growth in China

SHANGHAI - China's encouragement for mass entrepreneurship and innovation has driven the growth of startups as well as angel investments.

Surong360.com, a P2P (peer-to-peer) lending platform for college students and alumni, said it obtained an investment of tens of millions of yuan this week.

It is among a wave of new companies benefitting from angel investment in China. Angel investment is made by affluent individuals or institutions which provide capital for a business startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.

Launched in 2013, Surong360 is a platform to lend and borrow money, make small investments or purchase using installments. It had millions of registered users across 2,000 universities by the end of 2014.

"We made the investment decision immediately after knowing the project, which is unique and creative," said Cha Li, an angel investor and co-founder of the fund company which invested in Surong360.com.

Although China's broader economy is slowing, its young entrepreneurs are driving a wave of startups that have become a bright spot for the economic landscape and an important engine for future growth.

The number of newly founded companies in China surged almost 46 percent year on year to 3.65 million in 2014, which has been a boon for the country's angel investments.

Zero2IPO Group, an integrated service provider in China's venture capital and private equity industry, reported in late January that Chinese angel investment institutions had completed 766 investment deals last year, soaring 353 percent from the previous year.