Internet sector likely to see boom in entrepreneurship

The Internet sector might see a boom in entrepreneurship in the second half of this year despite the economic slowdown, said Kaifu Lee, the former head of Google China, who now runs a technology incubator Innovation Works.

"It is not easy to receive financing and high valuation when the winter capital comes, however, it is a good time for venture capitals to see who is a real entrepreneur," said Lee before an "angel dinner" held by vc.cn, an Internet entrepreneurship service platform connecting early-stage entrepreneurs and angel investors.

During this year's two sessions, China has set a GDP growth target of 6.5 to 7 percent for this year. Lee said "Not all industries have slowed down as the emerging area such as Internet could see double-digit growth, but the traditional industry might witness negative growth. The hi-tech sector is growing pretty well."

Lee also said his company will mainly focus on and invest culture and entertainment, including mobile games, intelligent hardware and artificial intelligence, Internet education and finance, Online-to-Offline (O2O) and business to business (B2B) fields, enterprise-class services and cloud computing.

"I am bullish on cyber celebrities who are called Wanghong in Chinese that target the post-95 generation, which is also we care for."

PapiJiang, an online celebrity well-known for making humorous videos, got 12 million yuan investment from Xu Xiaoping, founder of Zhen Fund and Luo Zhenyu, who started his Luogic Show.

Li Xiaoning, founder of vc.cn, said this year is going to be a good time for startups from the current policy orientation and market environment.

"With the increasing demand for specialized service of entrepreneurship and investment, the professional service platforms will usher in rapid development," Li added.

Launched in 2012, this year's "angel dinner" selects six excellent projects from 3,372 candidates covering virtual reality, Internet finance, sports and online education.