Facing the overarching trend of economic globalization and the surging wave of companies going overseas, more and more Chinese enterprises are now venturing abroad, actively exploring global markets, and cultivating new drivers for growth. As the pace of "going global" continues to accelerate, it is also showcasing new paradigms and emerging characteristics.

 

Standing at the forefront of globalization, what are the new trends and opportunities for Chinese companies going overseas? And how can they ride the wave to achieve high-quality international expansion?

 

On April 12, Yuanhe Chencun hosted the Kunpenghui event, featuring special guests including Wu Cuiping, co-founder of the overseas-expanding company Anycubic; Zhang Xi, founder of VELOTRIC; Cheng Xiaona, Vice President of Titan Tech; as well as industry investors such as Cai Ning, Managing Partner at Guangdian Capital; He Zhenyu, Founding Partner at Xiaohujing Capital; Ren Guang, Managing Director at Jiayu Capital; Sun Hongda, Partner at Nut Capital; Ren Zhenghao, Executive Director at Service Trade Fund; Wang Chenzhi, Partner at Qingbo Capital; and Zhou Qi, Manager at GSR Ventures. Together, they discussed the opportunities, challenges, and strategic approaches for Chinese companies going global in today’s environment, along with insights into investment strategies. Below is a recap of the standout perspectives shared during the event:

 

How can cross-border e-commerce achieve new traffic growth?

 

Anycubic Zongwei Cubic is a globally leading consumer-grade 3D printing technology brand and a quintessential cross-border e-commerce company—producing 3D printing-related products in China while selling them online across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, with operations spanning more than 200 countries and regions worldwide.

 

During the keynote session, Anycubic co-founder Wu Cuiping, drawing from the company’s business journey, shared insights into the three key stages of Anycubic’s global product branding strategy, as well as current emerging trends and innovative approaches in overseas marketing. According to Wu Cuiping, today, the forefront of cross-border brand marketing no longer relies solely on ad-driven traffic or traditional advertising methods to boost growth—instead, brands are shifting toward content marketing and social e-commerce. This shift aims to streamline communication channels with consumers, fostering greater user engagement while significantly cutting down marketing costs.

Additionally, Wu Cuiping also highlighted the risks and challenges that brands face when going global. She emphasized that cross-border companies must pay close attention to patent issues to avoid product-related infringements, while also remaining mindful of trade barriers, protecting the privacy of overseas users, and other policy-related risks.

 

VELOTRIC's Global Expansion Model: Identifying the Right Market Direction and Building a "Comprehensive Capability" Moat

 

VELOTRIC is an e-bike brand based in Shenzhen, launched in 2021. As a new international brand, VELOTRIC has focused heavily on the North American market. Just seven months after launching its independent website in May 2022, the company achieved sales exceeding $15 million USD.

 

VELOTRIC founder Zhang Xi shared insights into the brand's global expansion strategy and roadmap, drawing from the company's rapid growth journey. According to Zhang, Chinese brands looking to go overseas should first identify the right market direction and gradually build a strong "moat" to secure their position in the competitive landscape. Taking VELOTRIC as an example, Zhang noted that the world’s largest e-bike markets are currently China, Europe, and the United States. Among these, VELOTRIC initially targeted North America because the U.S. e-bike market started later, leaving significant untapped potential. Additionally, compared to Europe, the U.S. market has more fragmented consumer demands, making it less saturated with established brands—and thus creating a fertile ground for new brands like VELOTRIC to thrive.

 

With the market direction clearly defined, how can brands swiftly penetrate overseas markets and secure a competitive edge in emerging markets? Zhang Xi believes that the key to building a strong moat around cross-border brands lies in their complex business operations. "Building 'comprehensive capabilities,' which encompass product strength, localized channels and operational expertise, as well as brand power. At the same time, cross-border brands must leverage their unique technological advantages and supply-chain strengths to forge differentiated competitive edges."

 

The Key to Building Global Brand Power ——Digitalization Streamlines the Entire Marketing Journey

 

Titan Digital is a leading global growth digital services provider in the industry. Leveraging its independently developed global digital media platform, Taidong Technology has developed a comprehensive "Cloud + Intelligence" full-stack solution, leveraging SaaS management tools, cutting-edge business intelligence technology, and AI capabilities. This innovative approach provides Chinese enterprises with a one-stop digital growth platform—offering tailored tools and services—to help them successfully expand into overseas markets and achieve global expansion and growth.

 

Titan Digital Technology Vice President Cheng Xiaona provided an in-depth analysis from the perspectives of consumer and manufacturing industry chains, shedding light on the current state of Chinese companies expanding overseas—and highlighting the key factors that will enable brands to achieve global reach and lead high-quality international growth. Cheng Xiaona emphasized that China's massive manufacturing scale and its robust, fully integrated industrial ecosystem form a formidable foundation for Chinese products to succeed on the global stage. She also noted that digitally driven cross-border e-commerce, as a new engine for foreign trade, is now experiencing explosive growth.

 

In Cheng Xiaona's view, China possesses enormous potential and significant benefits for internationalization. However, Chinese companies are currently still in the early stages of going global, with most of them remaining upstream in the consumer industry chain—where profit margins are low. To thrive on the global stage, Chinese enterprises must move toward the high-end segments of the international value chain. At the same time, Chinese brands still lag behind in terms of global influence, making comprehensive coverage in global digital media a critical factor for Chinese companies expanding overseas. Building a strong brand, after all, is a complex, systematic undertaking. "Marketing + AI" can dramatically boost the efficiency of content creation and brand globalization collaboration, strengthening the "localization" image while upgrading the entire overseas marketing journey—making it possible for more Chinese brands to achieve global success.

 

The era of "low-hanging fruit" is over. —— Entrepreneurs venturing overseas must possess "Born Global" Mindset

 

In the first roundtable discussion session, four industry investors—Cai Ning, Managing Partner at Guangdian Capital; He Zhenyu, Founding Partner at Xiaohu Jing Capital; Ren Guang, Managing Director at Jiayu Capital; and Sun Hongda, Partner at Nuts Capital—discussed "Exploring Comprehensive Global Expansion Based on China's Supply Chain Capabilities," the session jointly examined corporate investment strategies for going overseas in the new era, as well as the key factors that are driving Chinese companies to succeed in today's global market.

 

Here are selected highlights from the roundtable discussion:

 

Compared to the previous wave of Chinese companies going global, what new changes have emerged in the profiles of Chinese enterprises and entrepreneurs heading overseas? And what key traits do they now possess?

 

When the overseas retail industry was just emerging, thanks to the huge platform traffic dividends, it could be said that low-hanging fruit was everywhere. At that time, entrepreneurs who dared to take action could basically succeed. But now, the low-hanging fruit no longer exists.

 

First, today’s entrepreneurs venturing overseas need to understand their users more deeply, gaining a profound grasp of the specific scenarios they operate in. Only then can they uncover users’ more subtle needs, enabling them to define and create superior products—and reach their audience in a far more efficient manner. Second, as markets evolve rapidly, entrepreneurs must cultivate the ability to continuously iterate and innovate. Especially those who started with a first-mover advantage should not only focus on their own evolution and iterative improvements but also inspire their teams to drive innovation together. In terms of mindset, they need to shift from viewing their business primarily through the lens of trade or simple commerce to embracing advanced corporate management and refined organizational strategies. Third, from the very beginning, entrepreneurs should adopt a global competitive mindset—moving beyond the typical cross-border e-commerce perspective—and consistently build capabilities that support international expansion. Finally, it’s crucial to remain down-to-earth and committed to steady, practical efforts, maintaining a balanced and pragmatic approach throughout the journey. The ability to "do subtraction."

 

From "What are the winning factors for businesses transitioning from 'cross-border sellers' to 'cross-border brands' or 'cross-border platforms'?"

 

Moving from being a seller to operating on a platform, the ability to sell effectively is the foundation. Next, it’s crucial to refine your products while simultaneously boosting your brand’s visibility and influence. Additionally, companies looking to expand overseas must strengthen their technological capabilities—this will help them build cost and efficiency advantages, creating the opportunity to advance to the next stage. Notably, when it comes to branding, it’s easier to establish a strong market presence in relatively developing countries. Meanwhile, in developed markets, companies need to quickly seize opportunities by emphasizing product innovation and leveraging their unique product strengths, ultimately enhancing their core competitive edge.

 

The development of the industry relies heavily on policy support. As an investor, how can you better serve as a bridge between businesses and the government?

 

In addition to facilitating direct business alignment, we aim to support and empower the portfolio companies in operating compliantly and legally—both from a holistic security perspective and in terms of their potential for future market entry—thereby mitigating associated risks. Moreover, given that various regions currently offer policies aimed at fostering industry clusters and attracting investment, we’ll also provide tailored support and services to ensure seamless industry alignment during implementation.

 

High-quality global expansion opens up tremendous opportunities for truly original, globally-minded enterprises.

 

In the second roundtable discussion session, Ren Zhenghao, Executive Director of the Service Trade Fund, Wang Chenzhi, Partner at Qingbo Capital, and Zhou Qi, Managing Partner at GSR Ventures, discussed The discussion on the topic "Investment and Insights into Overseas New Infrastructure and Services" explored the investment logic and opportunities in the overseas infrastructure sector.

 

Here are selected highlights from the roundtable discussion:

 

Last time during the roundtable discussion, participants highlighted China’s strong product capabilities, robust supply-chain advantages, and the growing momentum of Chinese companies expanding globally to serve customers worldwide. Looking at the bigger picture, everyone is naturally eager to understand whether the government and policy frameworks actively support these international initiatives—and if so, to what extent. To shed more light on this, we’d like to invite Mr. Ren from the Service Trade Fund to provide an insightful overview for everyone.

 

The Trade in Services Fund was approved by the State Council and established jointly by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, and China Merchants Group in The national-level industry investment fund, jointly launched in January 2018 with a total scale of 30 billion yuan and an initial phase of 10 billion yuan, focuses on supporting leading enterprises in China’s service trade sector to strengthen and expand their businesses, helping them build a group of influential, internationally competitive leaders in the service trade industry.

 

The landscape and structure of international trade will undergo significant changes, with digital capabilities playing an increasingly larger role in future trade, while policies are shifting from The first batch of cross-border pilot cities, established in 2013, have continued to evolve and receive ongoing support, now growing into a market worth over 10 trillion yuan—thanks to the industry’s inclusiveness and the backing of regulatory frameworks. As a new model in foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce is a key area receiving strong national support. Looking ahead, companies in this sector can expect a relatively smooth path toward accessing capital markets in the long term.

 

Jinshajiang is one of the investment firms backing Titan Tech. We all know Titan Tech has been growing rapidly—digital marketing is already a highly mature industry in China. I’d love to hear why Jinshajiang was confident enough to invest back then, and what specific differences they spotted between the domestic and overseas markets at the time.

 

We believe that investing in the service trade sector is absolutely worthwhile. From the perspective of Chinese companies going global, in addition to branded products, there are two other critical areas: service trade itself, and another key component that we’ll discuss next. TOB-class products.

 

Looking at the current categories of companies expanding overseas, we see many domestic robotics firms actively entering markets in various countries around the globe. In fact, cross-border e-commerce is just one form of trade—and it may not even be the ultimate model of global commerce. That’s why we haven’t invested heavily in transaction-driven cross-border businesses; instead, our focus has been more on product-driven, cross-border ventures.

The reason we invested in TitanTech is that we’ve observed a fundamental shift occurring in the overall marketing landscape. On one side, there’s the traffic ecosystem, and on the other, brand owners—both of which are highly fragmented and evolving rapidly. If the platform can effectively bring these two sides together, the faster the industry transforms, the greater the platform’s value will become, unlocking significant growth potential for the entire sector.

 

Qingbo Capital has invested in a North American logistics startup. Uniuni is a digital logistics platform that operates exclusively overseas, providing parcel delivery services for platforms like Amazon, eBay, Shein, Temu, and TikTok. As a company with Chinese roots, what opportunity did Qingbo Capital see at the time?

 

UniUni was founded in 2019 and has already established itself as a leader in Canada, handling tens of millions of parcel deliveries annually. Today, the company operates over 50 high-capacity sorting centers across North America. With its keen insights into the North American logistics market, UniUni has successfully leveraged digital innovation to meet the needs of local e-commerce platforms—and quickly captured a significant share of the market. Watching UniUni’s growth trajectory, we’ve witnessed firsthand how a Chinese platform is truly making its mark on the global stage.

 

On the overseas product side, our strength lies in our exceptionally robust supply-chain capabilities. So, what are our industry advantages and investment rationale in infrastructure and service sectors? And where do the major framework opportunities lie?

 

The share of services in future trade will continue to grow, while the proportion of services within global value chains will also gradually expand. As Chinese companies increasingly go overseas—a major emerging trend—self-reliance in service-related operations will become even more critical. This shift opens up promising opportunities across various sectors, including payments, logistics, and human resource management. Among these, digitalization will serve as a key enabler for building the essential infrastructure needed to support businesses venturing into international markets.

 

Among these many sectors, logistics is an area that requires particular attention. With long overseas expansion routes, logistics significantly impacts the cost of goods destined for international markets—often accounting for a substantial portion of total expenses. And while the "last mile" of logistics primarily serves the U.S. market, Europe also represents a major opportunity. Moreover, technology-driven software solutions have already proven effective in China, enabling e-commerce platforms to successfully export their technological expertise to diverse global markets, with notable early successes to show. In terms of growth strategies, there’s still a clear distinction between companies providing overseas services and cross-border e-commerce businesses. This difference becomes especially pronounced when it comes to deep localization efforts—since service providers cater directly to local enterprises, they must possess far stronger localization capabilities to meet the unique needs of each regional market.

 

Looking at various industry chains, we will prioritize leading companies in niche segments, and financial services also remain a sector worth watching. Meanwhile, after years of rapid growth, many Chinese enterprises have now leveraged their advanced technological capabilities to become globally innovative companies—companies that are well-positioned to seize significant globalization opportunities in the future.