Recapping the first TechCrunch China event in Shenzhen

Last week we hosted our first TechCrunch China event in Shenzhen, the hardware capital of the world.

We were delighted to welcome thousands of attendees to the event, which included a host of top tech industry names, exciting up-and-coming startups, investors, students, hackers and much, much more.

For those of you who didn’t make it, here’s a recap of what went down at the I-factory, our very cool venue for the show which was once a glass manufacturing plant.

China’s Mobike plans move into services and aggressive international expansion

Mobike CTO Joe Xia joined us to discuss the current and future outlook for his company, which had raised $600 million a week before. Aside from an ambitious plan to reach 200 cities by the end of this year, many of which will be overseas, Mobike is also focusing and services, data and other areas.

How Ofo wants to change you and your city

Ofo, the arch rival to Mobike, was present via its CTO Austin Zhang who explained how it is using its bike rental service to aid city planning and — perhaps surprisingly — help Chinese people with their credit scores.

China’s biggest selfie app wants to prevent skin diseases

Meitu CTO Zhang Wei joined us to discuss his company’s selfie app, which he believes can have benefits beyond just beautifying people’s selfies. Meitu went public in a $600 million Hong Kong IPO in late 2016.

Kik CEO explains why it’s doing an ICO instead of venture fundraising

ICOs are emerging as a potentially transformative way to raise capital and build a decentralized ecosystem for developers. Canada-based Kik is one of the most established tech companies taking that route, and CEO Ted Livingston discussed why. He also explained how the company, which counts Tencent as an investor, keeps an eye on tech trends in China.

‘All roads do lead back to Shenzhen,’ according to Indiegogo’s Sandy Diao

A panel of hardware experts, including Indiegogo’s Sandu Diao and a number startup founders, discussed just why Shenzhen is a global hub for manufacturing, and whether that might ever change in the future. Their answer: probably not.

How wearables maker Huami is using deep learning to help doctors

Huang Wang, CEO of Xiaomi partner Huami, discussed the development of its latest health band — Amazfit — and the general direction that wearable devices are headed.

Kuang-Chi is bringing space tourism to China

Doctor Liu Ruopeng has been called the Elon Musk of China. His company is involved in several projects that sound like they are straight from science fiction – balloons that fly to space, jetpacks, flying cars, and metamaterials. Now his is working on a space-travel theme park.

Other panels and interviews included:

And last but not least, our pre-event hackathon…

Hacking blockchain, bike-rental and robotics at the TechCrunch Shenzhen Hackathon

Personal shopping assistant Roadshr wowed the judges into first place, but other notable projects include hacks using the blockchain and Mobike’s service.

Image via Leon Lv

All other images via TechNode