Unlock China: A curated 6-week trip to explore the Chinese tech ecosystem

Hi friends! I'm Izzy, the founder of Unlock China. About a year ago, I became fascinated with the tech industry in China. I began to learn more and more about some of the incredible tech and innovation coming out of the country and decided it was time to pull the trigger and immerse myself into the Chinese tech ecosystem for an extended period of time. After speaking to a number of people, it became clear to me that I wasn't the only one interested in the Chinese tech ecosystem. That's when I decided to curate a trip to bring a group of people along for the ride. Over the last 5 months, I've connected with an incredible community of makers, startup incubators, manufacturing plants, tech companies, coworking spaces and much more in China, and have put together a trip tech nerds will drool over. 🇨🇳WHY CHINA? Here are a few things about China you may or may not know. And if you don't, all the more reason to start taking China way more seriously than you have, and consider joining us. 1️⃣ Cashless Society Did you know that China is way beyond us in payment tech? Today in China, WeChat has over 900 million daily active users, 89% of which use WeChat Pay to pay for anything and everything from groceries, to subway rides, to giving money to homeless people (no, I'm not kidding). 2️⃣ Tech Startups and Venture Capital Chinese startups have raised over 3X as much as U.S. startups on average per Series A deal in the last 5 years. China is also the only country in the world that has had billion-dollar Series-A rounds of investment. China accounts for 38.9 per cent of the total number of unicorns globally, and the US accounts for 42.1 per cent. 3️⃣ Technological Advancement Hyped about Amazon Go, the world's first cashierless grocery store? Well get this. In 2016, Bingo Box, a Chinese startup, launched a chain of cashierless convenience stores. Today they operate 200 stores in 29 different Chinese cities. Sorry Amazon! 4️⃣ National Infrastructure China is building infrastructure faster than any other country in the world. Don’t believe it? Take a look at the country’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to connect 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania by shipping route or railroad. Not enough? Then take a look at how China just unveiled the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge spanning 55km. The country’s raw production power is unparalleled. 5️⃣ Clean Tech 68 of the world’s largest 200 publicly-listed clean tech firms are China-based. Twice the number of the 35 from the US, despite the US stock market being more than twice the size of Greater China’s. 🏆 MY GOALS Business China is extremely relationship-driven. My aim for this trip is to differentiate us from regular tourists by creating an environment of true immersion and integration. We'll be working out of a Chinese co-working space, attending tech events in the ecosystem, taking weekly mandarin lessons to gain cultural and language fluency, and much more. Don’t just visit China as a tourist, fully integrate yourself into Chinese culture through authentic experiences and day-to-day life. Let us take all the hassle out of building your network, expanding business and learning about manufacturing in China. 👋🏼WHY ME? I spent over a year organizing international co-working retreats, building pop-up coworking spaces, and organizing international tech meetups with Hacker Paradise, which pioneered the digital nomad retreat. Over the last two years I've organized over 100 events as the Community Manager for Lighthouse Labs, Canada's largest coding bootcamp. Today, I'm an active member in the Toronto tech community, and experienced with groups, community-building, international travel, and to top it off have taught myself mandarin (which I hope to perfect over the course of this trip). I hope you enjoy! Please ask any questions, make suggestions! Whatever floats your boat! Thank you!