天使投资在长宁 - 2015年05月08日

Luo Yao decided to run an investment management company in 2012 in Changning District to help young entrepreneurs with creative ideas start their businesses.

In less than three years, his angel investment firm Su He Hui has teamed up with more than 140 young entrepreneur groups working on pioneering Internet projects.

They run an academy that now has nine branches in Hongqiao, Zhongshan Park of Changning, as well as in Baoshan District, Haining of Zhejiang Province and others.

Booming new ideas

Wu Feng, founder of a cloud platform for the household service industry, received a 200,000 yuan (US$32,240) loan from Su He Hui when he started a business for the second time. The money lasted more than a year as the company developed and promoted its service.

The platform now has more than 100 users nationwide and the company has received 2 million yuan in funding from another investment company.

As a member of Su He Hui, young entrepreneurs gain access to sources, free office space, Family Night networking events and most importantly, cash to start the businesses.

Luo wasn’t flush with cash when he started Su He Hui, so it was a big risk. He loaned 3 million yuan to 10 companies and admits the pressure motivated him to seize every opportunity.

He also says he understood the difficulty and frustration of the entrepreneurs because he had started a business himself. He knew if there was a solid team in place, a family so-to-speak, where everyone encouraged and helped each other, he wouldn’t have given up his second business so easily.

Project screening

So instead of building just an investment firm, he built a “family.” Su He Hui now hosts a Family Night event every Wednesday, when the same group of young entrepreneurs gather for dinner and share thoughts, learn from each other, solve problems together, and become friends.

The key to any investment company is finding the right projects.

Every month investment analysts at Su He Hui pore over thousands of project proposals.

In the first round, 800 projects are selected for internal screening, of which 100 make it to the next level. After the second evaluation, 40 projects are picked for a third interview. Of those, 30 will be invited to join events hosted by the company.

In the end, only 10 projects can enter the program. The process guarantees projects with real potential are able to receive desperately needed funds.

In the beginning, Su He Hui only provided a maximum of 200,000 yuan per project, but now has three tiers — 200,000 yuan, 500,000 yuan and 1 million yuan.

The firm has invested more than 50 million yuan over the past few years, and the project with the highest assessment value is 100 million yuan.