Shanghai: The WeStart 2025 Entrepreneurial Investment Conference kicked off on September 21 in Shanghai as a major highlight of the 18th Pujiang Innovation Forum, with a focus on accelerating early-stage innovation through global investment and collaboration.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the WeStart initiative is part of efforts to reinforce Shanghai’s role as an international hub for sci-tech entrepreneurship and capital convergence. The conference saw the official launch of the WeStart Early-Stage and Small-Scale Investment Alliance, co-founded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology alongside major investment firms, central enterprises, and ecosystem partners.

The alliance is designed to fast-track early-stage achievements through the WeStart TOP 100 Startup Competition. This year’s competition attracted 1,487 teams worldwide across four frontier sectors, namely biomedicine, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence (AI), and future industries, including 71 overseas projects. From these, 100 top projects advanced to the final roadshow rounds.

Over two days, the forum hosted a series of matching and showcase activities focused on tech transfer and venture financing, forming a full-chain innovation service model to promote the transformation of scientific and technological breakthroughs. As part of the event, the cross-border sci-tech matchmaking session connected more than 30 overseas projects from nine countries, including Malaysia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, with Shanghai-based investors, covering fields such as clean tech, AI+ enterprise services, digital health, and fintech.