(Yicai) March 4 -- The Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen plans to leverage government guidance funds to support early-stage and long-term investments in hard tech startups, aiming to foster 80 unicorn and 1,000 gazelle companies by 2027.

Shenzhen will set up a system to identify, cultivate, and strengthen so-called unicorn and gazelle companies, according to a policy document the city’s industry and information technology bureau released yesterday.

Gazelles are young, fast-growing startups that increase their revenue by at least 20 percent a year and have base revenue of at least USD100,000. Unicorns are usually privately held startups worth at least USD1 billion and set up no more than 10 years ago.

Under the new policy, Shenzhen will focus on 20 strategic emerging industry clusters based in advanced manufacturing and eight major future industries, forming a full-chain incubator from precise identification of potential gazelles and unicorns to tiered nurturing and ecosystem empowerment.

The city will establish an enterprise service alliance to provide "one-on-one" targeted services for promising local startups, especially high-quality growth enterprises or projects that have achieved original and breakthrough innovations. The services will include tailoring financial service plans for each gazelle and unicorn, providing financial guarantees, and issuing exclusive loans.

The policy document also suggested specific measures to enhance the gazelle and unicorn innovation ecosystem and to introduce and cultivate high-level talent.

The number of unicorns and gazelle companies in a region is a key way to measure its economic activity, innovation and entrepreneurial vitality, and its future development prospects.

China had 369 unicorns as of last March, ranking second worldwide, according to the annual China Unicorn Enterprise Development report released by the Zhongguancun Unicorn Enterprise Development Alliance and others. Beijing had the most at 114, followed by Shanghai with 63 and Shenzhen with 32.

The number of gazelle companies in China exceeded 35,000 as of the end of last July, according to the Gazelle Cloud Database.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev