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Shenzhen named as top 5 start-up hub, Hong Kong nowhere in sight
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China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen could be the "Silicon Valley for hardware makers", according to a ranking of emerging start-up hubs around the world by well-respected US magazine Inc.
Shenzhen, which neighbours Hong Kong, is already home to a number of major tech firms, including Chinese web giant Tencent, drone maker DJI, and smartphone manufacturer OnePlus.
"[It is] a place where accelerators are eager to help you build, test, refine and make a million of something all in the same day," writes Greg Lindsay, author of Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next.
"Shenzhen is increasingly attracting startups that may have previously only outsourced their manufacturing here. It has become a global magnet for hardware companies eager to learn from the world's biggest (and often best) manufacturers of mainstream electronics."
Lindsay singles out Haxlr8r, a Chinese-American accelerator which specialises in hardware start-ups and uses Kickstarter to build buzz and find a market for new products. By taking advantage of Shenzhen's quick prototyping factories and testing the market before mass production, startups "win a tremendous amount of time in getting to market and avoid the costly mistakes that come with 'parachute manufacturing'," according to founder Cyril Ebersweiler.
One of Haxlr8r's recent successful Kickstarter projects is Prynt, a Polaroid-style instant photo printer in the form of a phone case which attracted more than 28 times its funding target.
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