This article was first published in the April 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. For more stories from WIRED's China issue, click here.
Above a bank on the 21st floor of Century Plaza Office Tower, in the heart of Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei market, teams from 15 hardware startups are programming delivery robots, tweaking trans-cranial ultrasound devices and adjusting wireless agriculture sensors.
This is HAX, "the world's first and largest hardware accelerator", which puts early-stage teams through a 111-day programme to build market-ready products.
In four years, HAX has invested in 100 companies after vetting what general partner Benjamin Joffe says are 1,000 startups a year. It provides mentors, funding, connections and demo days in Shenzhen and San Francisco - but at a price. Startups can trade $25,000 for six per cent equity, or $100,000 for nine per cent. "It's an investment company that functions as a hardware accelerator," explains Joffe. "We help them manufacture at scale. Then we launch."
Owned by SOSV and founded in 2011 by Cyril Ebersweiler and Sean O'Sullivan, HAX builds hits: last year it had five $1m Kickstarter campaigns, such as the $9 CHIP computer; graduates include Yeelink, whose connected light bulb attracted Xiaomi investment. "Firms like PCH International give founders a fish - but we teach them how to fish," Joffe says. But isn't $25,000 for six per cent a bit steep? "It gives us access to a whole ecosystem," says Nils Mattisson of Minut, which makes the Point home-security device. "HAX has saved us a year in burn rates and time to market. It's a no-brainer."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
