VC firms feel the chill of sluggish market, but remain warm about future

Business modes increasingly globalized

For Xu Xiaoping, the innovation and entrepreneurship is being globalized.

"In the past we talked a lot about Copy to China, or C2C. Now it is Copy to the World...During the Demo Day organized by Y Combinator in the Silicon Valley, I found projects going on road shows there included the equivalent of China's AliPay in Africa, the equivalent of Uber and WeWork in India. All kinds of innovation modes that have proved successful are spreading across the world," said Xu.

The globalization notion was supported by Annabelle Long, founding and managing partner of Bertelsmann Asia Investments, an investment arm of Bertelsmann AG, who said that "It is highly likely for popular apps in China to become vogue in other countries."

She said Chinese entrepreneurs could find plenty of chances of starting a new business in India, which bears many similarities with China.

"Over the past 10 years, every time you went to New Delhi in India, it would remind you of Beijing of 20 or 30 years ago. You could see many opportunities to start new businesses there." Long said, "In India, you could have breakthrough in diverse fields such as online payment, instant communication, social network, entertainment, e-commerce."

But she warned against selling backward technology to India. "What we give India today should not be low end, but something that is light, handy and easy to use."

"We should provide the best service and charge the most expensive fee," said Long.

Liu of Morningside was also positive about startups that focus on overseas market, believing that they could not only succeed in Southeast Asian countries or developing nations, but also in the United States and Europe.