Opening ceremony for the Internet Finance Service Laboratory, Shanghai's first Internet finance business incubator, on April 30. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The city of Shanghai announced the opening of an Internet Finance Service Laboratory, on April 30, its first business incubator for the Internet finance sector, Pudong Times has reported.

The incubator is a joint effort of an independent peer-to-peer lending (P2P) site wdzj.com and the Shanghai Cloud Valley, an innovation base for cloud computing.

The idea behind the move is to nurture micro-to-small and peripheral programs in Internet finance. It is expected to help companies moving to the area get registered, and with policies, funding and listing, and to set up an angel fund to support start-ups and related teams.

According to Xu Hongwei, the founder of wdzj.com and chairman of the Yingcan Group, it will also hold regular exchanges and events, such as inviting experts to suggest ways to help the companies develop better. The new incubator will provide office space for start-ups, and provide useful services and a better business environment.