A panoramic view of the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. [Photo/xuexi.cn]

A meeting to help develop high-tech and high-growth enterprises in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone – or Hefei high-tech zone – and connect them with financial and investment institutions was held recently.

It took place in the zone, located in Hefei city, capital of East China's Anhui province, on May 19.

Last year the zone added 545 national high-tech enterprises, taking the number to nearly 2,500 – accounting for about 40 percent of the total in Hefei city and 20 percent in Anhui province.

The number of high-growth enterprises in the zone reached 1,054 last year, exceeding 1,000 for the first time. They included four unicorn enterprises – a term referring to recently established businesses valued at more than $1 billion – and 27 potential unicorn companies.

Representatives of more than 100 leading investment fund institutions and financial institutions and over eight high-quality enterprises – with funding needs totaling over 150 million yuan ($21.31 million) – participated in the meeting.

The investment institutions showed strong investment interest in their projects and a number of them expressed the wish to take things further with the companies.

In addition, an upgraded version of an enterprise cultivation service management system was released on the day. It will provide professional, systematic, zero cost and convenient services for tech-based enterprises in the Hefei tech zone.