Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator closing China unit

[CALIFORNIA] Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley incubator of startups, said on Thursday it would close YC China, a Chinese version of its US programme.

The move comes as tensions rise between the US and China over trade and intellectual property in the technology sector. Y Combinator said the decision was a change in strategy unrelated to problems between the two countries.

YC China was created in 2018 under the leadership of Qi Lu, a computer scientist who was an executive in Microsoft Corp and Chinese search engine Baidu Inc.

Y Combinator said in a blog post that the incubator had changed its strategy to supporting local and international startups from its Silicon Valley headquarters.

"As a result, we decided that now is not the right time to run a new, country-specific version of Y Combinator," it said.

Incubators typically run programmes for startup founders to develop ideas and turn them into businesses. Notable Y Combinator programme graduates include Airbnb, DoorDash and Dropbox.

Mr Qi will now fund companies under his own programme called MiraclePlus, according to the blog. He was not immediately available to comment.

Y Combinator said it will continue to support and fund Chinese companies interested in applying to its US programme.

REUTERS