Lu Jun and his four classmates can rest easy about their fledgling computer company's future now that a 6.6-million-yuan risk fund deal has been clinched with a Shanghai-based investor.

The Beijing-based FanSo Company, which was established last September and provides on-line information services, is the brainchild of five students at Qinghua University, one of China's most prestigious schools in Beijing.

The university introduced a new regulation recently that allows students to defer study for up to two years in exchange for practical experience in the working world.

Lu and his friends are the first group of young people at Qinghua to test the waters of big business, and their efforts have paid off. In less than six months since it was established, more than 100 investors nationwide have shown interest in their company, and many have even offered risk investment.

After serious consideration, the young entrepreneurs chose the Shanghai Pudong Fortune Capital, a capital management firm which specializes in the Internet, as their leading investor. FanSo also signed deals with Siemens and several other companies in various fields.

Yi Wei, president of the Shanghai-based company, praised FanSo's "team spirit" and said the huge potential for networking with college students was a determining factor in the decision to back the five students.

Currently, FanSo employs 60 computer professionals, 20 of whom are still students and computer whizzes. The board of directors and high-level managers are all students, Lu Jun said.

"Currently our business scope is focused on providing information for students on campus, as we know exactly what college students are interested in," he said.

More than 20 percent of China's four million Internet surfers are college students, and 80-90 percent of university students are skilled in computer science.