Here are ten of the top Shanghai startups for 2019 based on the funding rounds of this year. These startups are expected to bring in the heat with exciting developments and new investments in the coming year.
Shanghai is a top business destination in the Asia Pacific region, thanks to the modern amenities and features it offers. This has helped the startup ecosystem in the city flourish. Shanghai has a larger share in the international customer base as compared to other Chinese startup ecosystems.
Shanghai? technological readiness combined with its cosmopolitan characteristic has helped startups in the city find a good launch pad for their businesses. ?There more than 1000 startups and over a quarter of them participated in funding rounds this year.
Top Shanghai Startups to Watch out for in 2019
Lufax
Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange (?Lufax?) completed its Series C round of funding in December this year raising $1.3 billion. This round for the Lufax based startup was led by Primavera Capital Group and had eight other investors participating in it. Lufax is an innovative online marketplace for financial assets trading which was established in 2011.Till date, the company has got total investments worth $3 billion and has established itself as a top startup in Shanghai in the fintech segment.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.lu.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/lufax
Twitter:? www.twitter.com/lufaxchina
Tuhu
Shanghai based startup Tuhu is an automotive after-sales service and products company whose services can be accessed via a website or app. It has made it easier for automobile owners to get the products delivered at their doorstep without having to go to a store physically. Tuhu is a top startup in Shanghai in the automotive after-sales segment that is leveraging the best of e-commerce tech to gain a wide customer base. The company raised $450 million this year to join the club of top Shanghai startups for 2019. This was the Series E round that features a group of 11 investors with Sequoia Capital China, Tencent Holdings, and the Carlyle Group at the helm. The company was founded by Min Chen in 2011.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.tuhu.cn
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/tuhu-cn
Xiaohongshu
The next company on our list of top Shanghai startups for 2019 is a popular Chinese shopping tip company – Xiaohongshu. The company was founded by Miranda Qu in 2013? and is one of the unicorn companies in the city. The Shanghai based startup boasts of total investments of $417.5 million with $300 million of this amount raised from its Series D round in June 2018. The company picked this amount from lead investor Alibaba Group and nine other participant investors. Xiaohongshu is a top startup in Shanghai that is helping over 17 million users find the best brands and their products through each other?s recommendations on the social commerce platform.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.xiaohongshu.com
Banma Network Technologies
Banma Network Technologies rose to become one of the top Shanghai startups for 2019 after the completion of its first round of funding in September 2018. The trailblazing startup raised $233 million from SDIC Fund Management (lead investor),? SAIC Venture Capital, and Yunfeng Capital. Banma Network Technologies is a top startup in Shanghai that has been created by Alibaba in partnership with SAIC Motor. The company shot to fame when it launched the world?s first car based on IoT technologies. The Shanghai based startup has already found a lot of takers for its cutting-edge smart car operating system and hopes to touch 6 million cars in the next five years.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.ebanma.com
Shanghai based startup Peilian.com was founded by Ge Jialin in 2014 to make music education more accessible. The company is an online on-demand music tutoring company that is offering quality music education on a one-to-one basis. The innovative company joined the club of the top Shanghai startups for 2019 by participating in two funding rounds in 2018 gathering ample funds to grow tremendously in the coming year. Series A was the most recent round for this top startup in Shanghai in which it raised $150 million from lead invest Tiger Global Management and seven other participating investors.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.peilian.com
YiXue Squirrel AI
Founded in 2014 by Derek Haoyang Li, this Shanghai based startup is an artificial intelligence-driven e-learning education platform for K-12 students. The company raised $850 million in the Series A round of funding from undisclosed investors this year. It is a top startup in Shanghai and has total investments worth CN?1.3B in its kitty. YiXue Squirrel AI is a global leader in edtech today owing to its innovations in the AI field and has set up over 1300 learning center across 200 cities in China to make learning more efficient.
Know more about? this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.squirrelai.us
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/yixue
Video++
The next company on our list of top Shanghai startups for 2019 is a trailblazing AI based entertainment company, Video++. The startup has taken the lead in the country in areas of video object tracking technology that enables automated ads to be shown to the users according to the video content. The Shanghai based startup has completed five funding rounds till date and the last one was in September 2018. This was the Series C round in which Video++ secured $105.1 million from eight investors for its cutting-edge specialty. William Joy founded this Shanghai based startup in 2014 that has total investments of $165.5 million till date.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.videojj.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/videopls
YITU Technology
Yitu Technology raised $300 million in its Series C round of funding in 2018. The Shanghai based startup raised this money from China Industrial Asset Management Limited, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, ICBC International, Gaocheng Capital, and GC Capital. This round makes YITU Technology one of the highly funded and top Shanghai startups for 2019.? YITU Technology is a pioneering startup that offers AI research and innovation services and are known for their extraordinarily fast facial recognition algorithms.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.yitutech.com
LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/company/yitutech
DaDa
This company has become one of the top Shanghai startups for 2019 for raising impressive funds this year. In the beginning of 2018, DaDa completed its Series C round from which it picked $100 million from lead investors Tiger Management Corporation and TAL Education Group. The Shanghai based startup offers online educational services and has won several awards and accolades for the same.? These services are directed at children in the age group of 4-16 who want to polish their English language skills. Dennis Lee and Hui Zhi co-founded this Shanghai based startup in 2013 that has attracted investments of $608.9 million till date.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.dadaabc.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dadaenglish
eBroker
eBroker is among the few fintech companies in the top Shanghai startups for 2019.? The startup is an online marketplace for international insurance and other financial products. It was founded by in 2015 by Max He and has an innovative business model that runs on a B2B2C system. $100 million were invested into the Shanghai based startup by lead investor Matrix Partners China in eBroker?s Series C round of funding. Other investors featured in the round were Sky9 Capital, K2VC, and Lightspeed China Partners.
Know more about this top startup in Shanghai
Website: www.edaili.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/e??
Shanghai is home to an impressive number of unicorn startups; most of the startups mentioned in this list as well are startups in the 1 billion club. These top Shanghai startups for 2019 are constantly growing and are outdoing each other. It will be interesting to see which one of them rises as the top startup in Shanghai in their respective industries by the end of 2019.