A startups meeting was held in Jiading on March 21 in a bid to forge a connection between angel investors and people who start a business.

More than 1,500 entrepreneurs and nearly 100 angel investors joined the event initiated by Feimalv, a company that offers startup support programs.

Tu Guangshao, executive vice mayor of Shanghai, said that while people need to be courageous enough to start a business, it is also vital that the government should create a friendly environment for startups.

Yang Zhenyu, a co-founder of Feimalv, said that the company will create more space for startups this year, adding that the compay will work on a total of 20 complexes in different cities in China where employees of startup companies can work, live and enjoy public services. It will also provide investment and financing services and accurate information for entrepreneurs and investors. Moreover, it plans to build innovation incubators overseas such as Paris, Hamburg, the Silicon Valley, Los Angles and Boston, to better serve overseas Chinese entrepreneurs.

China has been encouraging graduates to start a business and trying to support them by offering funds and consulting services to better grasp business strategy and government policies.

Only 1 percent of graduates choose to start a business, but the percentage of those who do so a few years after graduation was a bit higher, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The ministry's vice-minister Xin Changxing said China will start a program to help more than 800,000 graduates start businesses from 2014 to 2017.