For entrepreneurs in South East Asia, expanding into Asia’s biggest market, China, may be deemed as a challenging feat. With no market knowledge, the lack of local connections, unaware of the business norms, and the sheer need for heavy capitalization to scale the business rapidly across the country can be seemingly overwhelming - This is what 71SG hopes to solve.

71 SG, a Singapore-based firm hopes to handhold the startups’ at their attempt of entering the market through their Startup Bootcamp programme.

Startups will gain the necessary support to enter China's market under 71SG’s guidance. The 71SG team will not only connect participants with the right partners/connections and investors, they will also provide market knowledge and direct access to potential customers as well.

A partner of International Enterprise Singapore, participating startups will look to go through a series of intensive business meetings tailor made as accordingly to the startup’s profile including avenues of PR, local media and marketing exposure.

"The aim is to help start-ups understand the new market swiftly by connecting them to potential customers, partners and investors," said 71 SG in a statement yesterday.

Since inception, 71 SG has brought over a dozen companies to China.

Highlights of the previous events include meeting with representatives of different government bodies to understand local laws, as well as networking with multinational corporations, angel and venture capital investors and successful companies in China.

"Matter of fact, China’s market is very different market as compared to South East Asia and we are looking to help startups understand their company needs and sort out their uncertainties when they enter their market." said 71 SG director Eric Kng.

He also added that, "71 SG aims to bridge the gap between local small and medium-sized enterprises with investors, partners in China by providing opportunities for strategic investments".

The firm currently have a China and Singapore team running their Startup Bootcamp on a monthly basis where they assist South East Asia start-ups to establish a strong presence in Central China by providing a soft landing for market entry.