36Kr Holdings Inc sets vision on developing startups

The US-listed 36Kr Holdings Inc, a Chinese platform dedicated to serving startup ecosystems, is ratcheting up efforts to help entrepreneurs in China better access capital, branding and marketing resources.

Feng Dagang, CEO of 36Kr Holdings Inc, said in addition to traditional advertising services, the company has been offering enterprises-oriented services for five years. To better help startups, especially those in early stages, the company has unveiled an initiative named "36kr startups backing plan".

Under the plan, 36Kr Holdings Inc cooperates with large enterprises, investment institutions and other partners to build a network that helps meet startups' needs in branding, financing, customer acquisition, strategy and other areas. The move is part of the company's broader push to help entrepreneurs grow and develop, to improve China's venture capital ecosystem and promote innovation in the nation.

"The enterprise-oriented services now account for almost half of the company's revenue. For enterprises, they have many needs that cannot be met through simply advertising. We are also innovatively exploring the business of enterprise services to expand our boundaries and help startups grow at a faster rate," Feng said.

In the first quarter of this year, the Nasdaq-listed company's revenue increased by 13.9 percent year-on-year to 49.6 million yuan ($7.8 million).

Feng said the Beijing-based company is building a Software-as-a-Service platform named 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform where users can review enterprises' services offered by different companies. Software as a service is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.