HNA Group Invests in RocketSpace to Fuel Global Expansion

BEIJING, CHINA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - August 03, 2016) - Today, RocketSpace, the leading technology accelerator for high-growth startups, and HNA Group, a Fortune 500 multinational powerhouse, announced a strategic joint venture deal. Under terms of the deal, HNA has invested $336M toward RocketSpace's global expansion, including China, and other strategic programs designed to help people bring disruptive technologies to market. This deal is HNA's first investment in the growing technology accelerator and innovation space.

Founded in 2011, RocketSpace has built its reputation in the startup accelerator and corporate innovation space by attracting and supporting high-profile tech startups. Alumni include 16 unicorns ($1B+ valuation) including Uber, Cheetah Mobile and Blippar. Its tech campus and hand-picked community of startup members have positioned RocketSpace as a Silicon Valley hub for the global startup ecosystem. Beyond providing office-as-a-service and accelerator-focused services to tech entrepreneurs, RocketSpace's Corporate Innovation Services business partners with more than 100 of the Fortune 1000 who rely on RocketSpace to learn about, and work with, some of the world's most innovative startups. Clients include Royal Bank of Scotland, Tata Communications, Schneider Electric and JetBlue Technology Ventures.

"Since opening five years ago, RocketSpace has grown in both scope and global reach. This investment speeds up the execution of our global business plan and expansion of services for our ecosystem of partners," said Duncan Logan, Founder and CEO of RocketSpace. "China is at the epicenter of today's economy and it's critical for Silicon Valley to have a presence there. HNA is one of the world's fastest growing companies and they are a powerful partner to have as we quickly scale across the globe."

"RocketSpace is a unique and highly scalable business, and has tremendous opportunity to accelerate their leadership in the technology accelerator space," said Eric Tong, CEO of HNA EcoTech. "This deal is a critical piece of HNA's investment strategy and RocketSpace will be an important partner for us in Silicon Valley, China and throughout the world."

HNA's $336M investment will support RocketSpace's plans to build a global network of tech campuses and expand its position within the tech ecosystem with additional services to help new technologies scale. Its move into China will include tech campuses in key cities and aim to support the country's rapidly growing startup community. Unlike traditional accelerators, RocketSpace doesn't require equity from its startup members.

Along with its San Francisco headquarters and plans for China, RocketSpace recently announced its expansion into London in early 2017. To learn more about RocketSpace's plans for China, please visit: http://info.rocketspace.com/china-technology-campus-locations-en.

About RocketSpace

RocketSpace is a technology campus headquartered in the heart of San Francisco. Since 2011, the company has been helping tech entrepreneurs, startups and corporate innovation professionals bring the future to market. The company offers services to its members including programming, consulting, events, and office-as-a-service, which together create the perfect ecosystem and community for innovation to thrive. Select startup alumni include Uber, Spotify, Practice Fusion, and Leap Motion, and RocketSpace's roster of Corporate Innovation Services clients include Schneider Electric, Converse, Tata Communications, Royal Bank of Scotland, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Samsung, and ABinBev. For more information, visit www.rocketspace.com.

About HNA Group & HNA EcoTech

HNA, a Fortune 500 Company and a leader in aviation and tourism, was founded in 1993. Over the past two decades, it has grown from a local aviation transportation operator into a multinational conglomerate encompassing aviation, holding, tourism, capital, logistics and EcoTech. In 2015, HNA had revenues of nearly RMB190 billion, total assets of over RMB 600 billion and employed nearly 180,000 employees worldwide. As of December 2015, HNA has a fleet of nearly 1150 aircrafts, serves nearly 700 domestic and international routes, flies to over 200 cities, and has served 77.4 million passengers annually.

Parallel to the five existing branches of HNA Group, the newly founded HNA EcoTech Group is defined as a hi-technology industry holding group that aims to build a technology focused eco system to enable innovation acceleration. Given the duty of facilitating HNA's strategic transformation to adapt to the great information age, HNA EcoTech is highly involved in a variety of areas including Creative Labs, Tech VC, and Accelerator etc. Integrating HNA Group's resources over a range of business, HNA EcoTech helps corporations achieve transformation and industrial upgrade. At the same time, it assists start-ups to reach their full potential to ultimately boost the exploring of new forms of economy through its core technologies such as Cloud, Big Data and Internet of things.