Lin Yu: the Technological Rising Star of Davos Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF - Davos Forum) announced the 2011 Technology Pioneers list， on Sep. 1st 2010. Beijing NetQin Technology Co. was the only Chinese High-tech enterprise in the list. Look back of the past Technology Pioneers， China once had a non-profit education website counted in， and for this time， NetQin reached the highest peak for the Chinese IT enterprise that had been elected as Technology Pioneer global widely.

The World Economic Forum (WEF – Davos Forum) announced the 2011 Technology Pioneers list， on Sep. 1st 2010. Beijing NetQin Technology Co. was the only Chinese High-tech enterprise in the list. On Sep. 13th， NetQin came with the other 30 awarding enterprises， attended 2010 annual meeting of Summer Davos in Tianjin， China.

Davos Forum was founded in 1971， and nowadays became the symbol of global economic development. The Technology Pioneers election is undoubtedly representing the world innovative enterprise. All of the Tech-Pioneers， are not only in the field of IT industry， but also include biological and environmental industries etc. Google， Mozilla， Twitter and many other innovative enterprises were been listed in the Technology Pioneers list. Look back of the past Technology Pioneers， China once had a non-profit education website counted in， and for this time， NetQin reached the highest peak for the Chinese IT enterprise that had been elected as Technology Pioneer global widely.

An U.S. study report once pointed out， almost all of the Chinese IT enterprises were copying from Silicon Valley， and the innovative company rarely existed. However， with extremely foresight， NetQin was one of the earliest enterprises in the mobile security field in China， and even in the world market. Without any successful case， NetQin grew with its own production strategy and business module.

Hardship of Pioneering

Without 2010 Summer Davos Forum， NetQin would not be such well-known recently. The success of NetQin today not merely due to its showing proper posture in the proper time， but also becouse of the accumulation had founded in past five years， with technology products researching， services innovating， and promotion marketing so on. “Opportunity is for the ready man.” This remark is verified again.

In 2004， Lin Yu was still a teacher in the lab of National Exchange Network in the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT). And this year changed his life path deeply.

At the beginning of 2004， when the chief scientist of Nokia， also was the long-term cooperator of BUPT visited the campus， he mentioned some problems that already existed in mobile security area. Although those matters were only showed up as the start at that time， but Lin Yu grabbed the information exactly that the mobile security area will have a very big market in the future. In May， the first virus came out from smart mobile phone. This was a benign virus， without destructiveness， but Lin believed it will be a fundamental change; he believed this event indicated much further information. Since then， Lin started to plan the investment in mobile security field.

“We had a small team in the university， and we started to do some initial work. But if we want to apply the technology in the market， we must do it through an enterprise.” Lin told the reporter. Therefore， Lin Yu and another two partners chose to leave their jobs. They started the difficult undertaking in an abandoned kindergarten. NetQin bred at the moment.

However， in 2005， the mobile virus was still a disputed question in the industry， and even in a long period of time， the mobile virus also widely discussed. Lin， as the most “tenacious” guy who insisted on mobile security， had been called a name of Chinese Don Quixote.

“There were 4，500 millions of mobile users in the world， including 2，000 millions of smart phone users. At the present， there were only 1，000 millions PC users global wide. So the mobile internet and the intelligent handset's prospect for development spaces were very broad.” Lin firmly said these words at the time.

But， the smart phone was still preliminary in the expansion period: iPhone has not appeared in the market， and the mobile internet just started. Only the talent knew the future of mobile security service. “No complain and regret while you build the enterprise， there were many people failed in the beginning， it is normal.” Lin said like this.

“In October， 2005， we registered NetQin of 100，000 RMB. The first two years were really difficult; we had at least three or four times did not know how we could insist， momentarily prepared to close down. At the beginning of 2006， our company already ran out of the money， we borrowed 1 million， and insisted till July. In August 7th， we met an angel investor， and both sides discussed harmoniously. The investor was interested in our team and the product， so he invested 1 million to us. Then we insisted till the beginning of 2007 and at that time the Electron Expansion Funds of Information Industrial Department provided to us another 1 million for free. While solving the urgent matter， we attained the first venture capital. This period was the most difficult time for us.” Lin recalled.

Since then， Lin realized， he must seek for the venture capital on own initiative. However， he did not know anyone in venture capital area. In such situation， he had adopted a stupid method: through the internet search， collected all the contact methods of risk investors. Then he sent the group mails， introduced his commercial prospectus to them. Afterward， Lin Yu visited all the domestic and foreign well-known risk investors， approximately more than 30. Till GSR Ventures and Sequoia Capital finally injected funds into the company.

The President of GSR Ventures， Ding Jian said: “A team could still insist its own undertaking idea after seen more than 30 risk investors; this had even more strengthened the determination which we invest. The team of NetQin insisted in the technical exploration of mobile security， had not changed their undertaking route because of investor's suggestion; they had moved us with their insistence and confidence.” Venture capital brought not only the fund flow; moreover， it changed the fate of NetQin importantly.

Vision of Initialing Enterprise

The World Economic Forum began to be optimizing with mobile security industry. NetQin has nearly 30 items of the key technologies and related information about mobile security intellectual property rights. As a market leader in mobile security， we have to say NetQin is indeed the benchmarking enterprise of this rising industry. However， in Lin’s view， the mobile security service market is still undervalued.

Based on a Third-Party public data shows， the global mobile security market is totally 380 millions US dollars in this year， and in 2013， it will grow to about 1，5 00 millions. Lin said， “Mobile users are larger than the internet users. The internet users are about 1 billion， whereas mobile users will be 10 billions in the future， therefore， mobile security would be a fundamental key application in the coming days.”

“Along with the mobile functions enriching， and in the future， mobile will play more important role in people’s daily life. You could control your refrigerator though your mobile phone， the stock transaction， the bank service， the healthy information etc... NetQin will issue the `Safety Space Service’ in next step. If you lost your mobile， that is fine. You will have an account number to log on， and people could know that is you. Then you send the instruction to Safety Space for the lost protection， for instance to lock up the handset in any place， delete the privacy information， get back the important address book and so on; In addition， the financial protection， the telephone anti-interception etc. These scenes only appear in movies are also could be real appearance in the life. Now what we have to do is to connect the Internet and the Mobile perfectly fuse in together.” Lin was excitedly about the future.

According to the US Market Survey， there are 51% participants paying attention to the mobile safety. While they using the mobile or the Ipad to visit Internet， downloading applies， shopping， paying the bill and receiving or dispatching mails， people are worried about the information of the security problem. “The mobile security will receive more attentions for its importance.” Lin Yu said， “NetQin has 55 millions users for the mobile security service in world wide， and our new user quantities also increasing for 3 millions each month.”

Lin Yu told the reporter， there were three stages of the development of NetQin， “From October 2005 to June 2007， was our pioneering stage. This period we disciplined the team， pondered the business model， and completed the basic product service. In June 2007 to the end of 2008， was the gold time for company's development， and we have obtained two rounds venture capitals. From the end of 2008 to the present， we were starting to make the internationalization market development at the stage. At present we already had surpassed 35% oversea market. Our company will seek the breakthrough in the capital market in next step， and striving within 3 year to be into the market like NASDAQ.”

Until now， NetQin already obtained 35 millions US dollars venture capital. Lin Yu indicated that the fund mainly used in three aspects: First is for the market development， specially overseas market development; Second is for providing valuable service to users; and Third is for promoting brand influence of the company. “We already had the local office in Hong Kong， and we are planning to establish new office in the Silicon Valley in next month. To understand the US market， develop the local channel; build the technical support， and connecting with the European and American markets.”

“We hope to become the biggest mobile security service company global widely within 3-5 years. And for the user stratification， NetQin would like to be the most trust-worthy mobile internet enterprise.” Lin had already constructed the good future.