CDIB Capital Innovation Accelerator (the Accelerator) has held 177 events since its opening in the Nangang Software Park in 2017. With more than 7,500 people participating in related activities, the Accelerator has become the best entrepreneurial platform for Taiwanese startups. The Accelerator, dedicated to forming a startup ecosystem, accelerates funding for target startups by focusing on selected industries and facilitating upstream and downstream integration, bringing more opportunities to both investors and investee companies.
Ho Chun-huei, President of CDIB Capital, said parent company CDF has become an FHC offering comprehensive services with four engines: life insurance, commercial banking, securities, and VC/private equity. CDF is committed to bringing business synergies into play, and this model can also be used in the Accelerator. Just like the provision of comprehensive services by CDF’s four engines, Ho emphasized the Accelerator can provide an entrepreneurial platform for startups by leveraging CDF’s 60 years of investment experience for upstream and downstream integration.
CDF’s investment strategies over the 60 years have been focused on industrial development. In the past, they were to foster Taiwanese industries, and now they are aimed at facilitating the development of industries of the future after making complete market analyses. Ryan Guo, President of the Innovation Accelerator Fund, said CDF had been helping accelerate funding for startups before the name “Accelerator” came into existence. Guo further noted, in response to the blossoming of the “new economy” with the development of the internet, which refers to cross-industry interconnections, the Accelerator is actively forming a start-up ecosystem through the entrepreneurial platform.
SHOPLINE, an online shop enabler, is the latest investment made by the Accelerator. Since being founding in 2013, SHOPLINE’s international team has offered e-commerce setup services to help over 150,000 brands successfully create their own online shops. As of 2018, it has helped merchants attract 200 million customers to their stores, making it the largest online shop platform in Asia. Going forward, the Accelerator will assist SHOPLINE in cooperating with other startups with regard to the development of new technologies and integration of industry resources and in deploying for a variety of demands overseas. The four major areas of investment for the Accelerator – AI, the internet of things, the mobile Internet and next-generation e-commerce – appear to be distinct, but in the context of the new economy, they are interconnected. The Accelerator, through various custom-made courses (rather than standardized entry-level courses) that are provided to owners of investee companies, aims to accelerate funding for target startups.
By introducing strategic investors, the Accelerator lets Taiwanese startups feel like they are not fighting alone but rather in a group. Guo used this simple analogy to explain the goals and importance of an ecosystem, with the ultimate objective of bringing the products and services of Taiwanese startups to the world stage through its extensive network in the startup community.
