InnoSpring, First US-China Technology Incubator, Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwired - May 10, 2013) - InnoSpring (IS), Silicon Valley's first US-China technology startup incubator, toasted a successful first year of achievements with its one-year anniversary celebrations and DEMO Day on May 9. At a by-invitation only event, InnoSpring announced that the InnoSpring Seed Fund, in collaboration with TEEC Angel Fund, has invested $2 million in 12 trailblazing startups.

InnoSpring also celebrated the following milestones:

• Grew from housing 12 startups to 40 startups at its 13,500 square foot Santa Clara facility.
• Attracted 300 applicants for its accelerator program.
• Accepted and funded twelve companies, at a three percent admission rate.
• Welcomed more than 50 mentors with domain expertise spanning technology, financial, legal and marketing fields to offer advice and resources to InnoSpring startups.

InnoSpring's rapid growth is testament to two undeniable trends -- first, the influx of Chinese investors and companies descending in Silicon Valley with the intent to fund, partner with or acquire US companies; Second, the increasing number of Chinese returnees and American entrepreneurs seeking to expand their businesses in the lucrative Chinese market.

"As Silicon Valley's first US-China incubator, InnoSpring is uniquely positioned to support and accelerate cross-border entrepreneurship, partnerships and investments," said Eugene Zhang, CEO of InnoSpring. "Increasingly, more US companies, and Chinese investors and companies are leveraging our on-the-ground knowledge of Silicon Valley and China to support their business goals. Today, InnoSpring celebrates the first anniversary of our thriving, vibrant ecosystem and looks forward to contributing to US-China cross border cooperation for many years to come."

First Slate of Startups Funded by InnoSpring Seed Fund
InnoSpring Seed Fund has provided seed capital for twelve trailblazing startups to help accelerate business initiatives ranging from product development, building of core team and market expansion.

InnoSpring's first slate of funded startups hails from six different industries: software, mobile, consumer web, hardware, healthcare, and clean-tech. These include:

• Accusilicon: Semiconductor company makes the world's lowest noise clock integrated circuits that improve data speed for cell phones and high speed Ethernet at extremely low cost.
• Chewse: Online catering service that curates restaurants for big companies.
• Dew Mobile: Mobile-to-mobile communication company offers the world's fastest file transfer tool that supports any file format, folder and group sharing abilities. Just passed the 10 million user mark in China.
• Empower Micro Systems: Disruptive energy inversion technology company that invented "smart embedded power" applicable to solar and electric vehicle industries.
• OncoHealth: Protein biomarker diagnostics company dedicated to revolutionizing screening and diagnostics of cervical cancer and other HPV-associated cancers.
• Lex Machina: Dubbed the "Moneyball of IP," Lex Machina provides IP litigation data and analytics to companies and law firms IP business strategy, increasing IP value and income.
• TrustGo: Mobile security company offers AV-Test #1 rated security app that gives users the freedom and confidence to find, download and use the apps they love.
• Watchup: A news watching app that brings the power of video journalism to the tablet age with the iPad that lets users watch their personal newscasts.
• If You Can: Company that "gamifies" curriculum for school children.

"Empower and other InnoSpring startups are making inroads into China to tap on its massive market potential. InnoSpring armed our team with valuable industry expertise and worked closely along with us to forge crucial industrial partnerships and connections which set us on an accelerated path that we couldn't have accomplished by ourselves," said Mika Nuotio, CEO of Empower, who will be one of the presenting startups at the DEMO this year.

InnoSpring One-Year Anniversary and Demo Day
InnoSpring's anniversary celebration was held at its Santa Clara facility. The event featured distinguished speakers, including:

• Ken Gullicksen, Chief Operating Officer, Evernote Corporation
• Wen Hsieh, General Partner U.S. & Managing Partner China, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Lei Yang, Managing Director, Northern Light Venture Capital
• Richard Lim, Managing Director, GSR Partners
• Andrew Chung, Managing Director, Khosla Ventures
• Jianlong Dong, Science and Technology Counselor, Consulate General of The People's Republic of China
• Honorable Teresa Cox, Trade Advisor to the Obama Administration

The event also featured a showcase of fifteen disruptive startups, including many listed above.

About InnoSpring
InnoSpring is Silicon Valley's first US-China technology startup incubator focused on nurturing American and Chinese start-ups to expand beyond their home countries. It is created from the joint partnership of Tsinghua University Science Park (TusPark), Shui On Group (Shui On), Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). InnoSpring Seed Fund is funded by leading investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB), Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC), GSR Ventures, China Broadband Capital (CBC) and TEEC Angel Fund. For more information, go to www.innospring.net