NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, September 18, 2017

In 2017, Dao Ventures, a Sino-US impact investment and accelerator group, has joined forces again with the Dongsheng Science and Technology Park in Zhongguancun, China’s Silicon Valley, to launch the 3rd annual Dongsheng-Dao Ventures US-China Entrepreneurship Competition which is considered the only impact venture contest across the Pacific.

Aside from the cross-border and internationalization aspect of the Competition, what particularly differentiates the Dongsheng-Dao Ventures Competition is that it has included environmental and social impact as a key part of its selection and evaluation criteria as guided by Dao Ventures, a consortium of various impact investing and acceleration entities that overall has supported over 1,000 impact ventures in both China and internationally so far.

Most of the 25 finalists and all the top winners from 2015 and 2016 who advanced to the Beijing Global Final were considered environmental and/or social impact ventures, and all the top winners received cash grant awards, travelling stipends and mentoring services from Dao Ventures.

Photo courtesy of Sudipto Sarkar.