Cafe helps startups get started

The high-tech hub provides free Internet. Coffee－needed by some more than others－is extra. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Plan for success

Despite not having enough employees and capital, Liu is confident their business will succeed. He uses a table in the cafe as his workspace, and even plans to register it as his company's address, if they cannot afford rent for a physical office.

Liu feels confident, as he is surrounded by other people who are passionate about starting a business and works at a place where he can directly promote his project to investors.

More than 140 startup teams have been formed in the cafe, and about 70 startups received funding with the help of the cafe, according to Jin.

Around 147 startups use the cafe as an office, and four of them are estimated to be worth more than 100 million yuan each.

Liu Zhixiong, CEO of Haogougou, a successful social networking platform that helps dog owners find grooming services for their pets, first came to the cafe in 2011 and met his investor there.

Haogougou receives hundreds of orders every day and is growing steadily.

Liu has moved his company into an office building in downtown, yet he still comes to Garage Cafe regularly.