Guizhou a fertile land for startups

Employees of BaishanCloud hold a meeting in an office in Guian New Area, Guizhou province. Provided to China Daily

Guizhou province enjoys massive economic growth and attracts skilled labor after launching major financial incentives to startup companies, Chen Hong reports.

The fast-growing digital economy of Guizhou province in Southwest China has nurtured a great number of startups with its incentive policies, favorable business environment and efforts to attract talent.

BaishanCloud Technology Co Ltd is one of the best emerging companies in big data industry. It has provided more than 400 industry leaders, such as Microsoft, Xiaomi and Changhong, with close-looped data lifecycle services for delivery, storage, governance and security, since being established in April 2015.

According to company statistics, their services cover 79 percent of China's netizens and at least 200 million users overseas.

"Our vision is to build a global service company that can help every terminal in the world share information better. We set up BaishanCloud to fulfill our dreams," said Huo Tao, chief executive officer and joint founder of the company.

It was registered in Guian New Area, a core of China's big data development in the south, which sits between Guiyang and Anshun, Guizhou province.

"Guizhou came to mind as the first option when we were selecting the location for BaishanCloud in 2015, because at that time the province had led the country in developing the big data industry," Huo said.

Guizhou was less developed when compared with metropolitan cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen in South China, but it was exactly what the nation needed to serve as an impetus for a new round of economic growth, he added.

In fact, as China's first Statelevel big data comprehensive pilot zone, Guizhou reaped a marked growth of 37 percent year-on-year in terms of the digital economy in 2017. It ranked first across the country, according to official figures. It is projected that the added value of the big data industry could account for 30 percent of the gross domestic product of Guizhou by the end of 2020.

For Guian New Area, the big data industry surged 10 percent year-on-year to 37.1 billion yuan by the end of 2018, official figures indicate.

Huo and his partners also found Guizhou is suitable for living and working because the weather is comfortable all year round; the geological structure has a low earthquake risk; the natural resources, including water and coal, are rich and can keep electricity costs low; and the air is fresh.

"All those factors are suitable for the construction of data centers," said Huo. He added that a group of influential companies who chose to settle down in Guizhou also helped attract middle-to-top grade professionals.

"The economy of Guizhou has been dynamic over the years. We have taken the opportunity and the company has been on the fast track of development," Huo said.

BaishanCloud launches a new product each year to satisfy rising demand of its users, he said.

In July 2017, the company introduced Advanced Threat Detection, a new cyber security product based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, which can improve users' defenses.

In 2018, the company announced a new product called Orchsym, which tackles connectivity problems among data. It is caused by differing formats or users' enclosed systems. The product is aimed at government departments or companies and serves their digital integration and transformation.

BaishanCloud has obtained 32 invention patents and 33 software copyrights while 315 invention patents, including 41 patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, are in the application, said Huo.

"We are grateful to the government, which renders great support in policy and funds," said Huo.

The company received more than 100 million yuan in B-round financing, part of which was from the development fund of Guian New Area for emerging industry and from the finance and investment arm of the new area's State-owned company.

He said the government's talent policy helps attract quality professionals, who are essential to the growth of big data companies.

Sun Zhigang, Party secretary of Guizhou, said the province will continue to strengthen its efforts to attract big data and related companies, high-tech companies and talent at all levels, to make the digital economy bigger and stronger.

Contact the writer at chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn

Li Hanyi contributed to this story.