China's e-commerce giant JD.com will open two smart coffee shops in Beijing and Shenzhen, aiming to serve 100 start-ups in the next three years, Wang Zhenhui, the CEO of JD Smart said at a press conference, marking the one year anniversary of "JD+" plan.
The coffee shop has positioned itself as an incubation space that focuses on smart hardware. The first shop will open on Haidian South Road in Beijing's Zhongguancun this June. The second one will be located in Shenzhen Bay in Shenzhen city.
"The smart coffee shop, as a kind of business incubator, will mainly focus on start-ups that haven't acquired A-round financing. JD+ incubator will recruit thousands of potential teams in the next three years and 100 top teams among them will have the chance to enjoy incubation services provided by us," said Wang Zhenhui.
"We will cooperate with 30 key intelligent hardware investment institutions and excellent incubators to help start-ups obtain a new round of financing," Wang added.
This kind of incubators is not new to Zhongguancun. The most famous one is 3W Coffee, an operational entity run by 3W. Its business covers angel investments, corporate public relations, event organization, and incubation clubs and cafes.