Emerging companies have a distinct edge

Compared with the traditional manufacturing sector, emerging and internet-based industries have several advantages when it comes to raising funds.

YunQuNa.com, a logistics website in Shanghai, is a good example. The company has benefited from the Belt and Road Initiative, the China International Import Expo held in the city late last year, and government measures to cut taxes and fees for small and medium-sized enterprises. Last year, the number of cargos it helped to transport doubled from 2017.

YunQuNa, which provides international logistics services for small and medium-sized foreign businesses, ranked 29th in China’s top 100 business-to-business companies last year, according to a report by the China Industrial Internet Conference, which was held in Shanghai last month.

The government has recently released a raft of supportive measures to help finance small and medium-sized enterprises in the private sector, said Yan Haitao, YunQuNa’s public relations director.

He said the company used to have difficulty obtaining loans because it did not have fixed assets as collateral. Now, as a result of government measures to support innovation-driven companies, it can borrow from commercial banks in the form of receivable pledges, which use fees owed by customers as collateral, he said.

The loans have boosted the company’s development, and the business has also benefited from tax reductions, with related costs falling by 20 percent per month, he added.

“Faced by increasing downward pressure on economic growth, the government’s new policies are good news for foreign trade and international logistics, including our company. We are optimistic about the prospects for this year,” Yan said.

In November, the National Bureau of Statistics said new growth momentum for the Chinese economy is rising fast to unleash market vitality and alleviate the downward pressure.

As an online platform for international logistics, YunQuNa recently underwent a new round of financing and now has sufficient capital. This means new opportunities are arising when many other companies are gloomy about the market, despite the availability of low-cost assets and employees, Yan said.