Dim Sum & Startups in Hong Kong with Casey Lau

Leong Chung Wei Bernard -
With Casey Lau (@casey_lau) from StartupsHK.com in this episode, he share with us the origins of the interesting nascent Hong Kong startup ecosystem and why Hong Kong is now a port of call for prominent investors out there. We discussed the culture, infrastructure & the type of start-ups (financial tech, logistics and ecommerce) that are exciting in the Hong Kong ecosystem. From the top 5 he has picked in 2014 to the hot exits in Hong Kong, we also discuss other notable companies such as 9GAG which are changing the landscape considerably. Casey also helps us to navigate the investors, the co-working spaces, the networking groups and the conferences which form part of the ever vibrant and active Hong Kong startup scene. Finally, we discuss the comparisons between Singapore and Hong Kong and the next port of call where Hong Kong startups will scale to.

Here are the interesting links for the discussion:

  • The story of Casey Lau, and the origins of StartupsHK.com where it began with a question to Dave McClure before his pre-500startups days, “What should we do when you guys leave Hong Kong?”
  • What is the Hong Kong startup ecosystem in terms of (a) culture (b) infrastructure (c) type of startups which are popular: financial tech, logistics and ecommerce.
  • Where are the best co-working places to go in Hong Kong?
  • Top 5 startups in the year of 2014: Grana, Gogovan, Bindo, Around, Ezeecube.
  • The famous exits in the Hong Kong startup ecosystem: Divide, Taxiwise, Viss, Patalogue, uBuyIBuy, AliveNotDead.
  • The startups directory for Hong Kong @ Startbase – Over 400 startups + 400 founders all tie in with Crunchbase.
  • Notable startup companies in HK Startup ecosystem:
  • Notable venture capitalists and business angels in Hong Kong: Fresco Capital, Nest Venture Capital, ArchAngels, Arbor Partners, Brinq, 500 startups, Horizon Ventures, KPMG, Alibaba (with their RMB1 billion investment on Hong Kong).
  • Accelerator programs: Accenture, Swire’s Blueprint.
  • Government support: Cyberport and Science Park
  • Networking groups besides StartupsHK: TiE, Startup Weekend, Open Data, Dim Sum Labs, H3 and many meetups across all the co-workspace and Startup Dim Sum.
  • The comparison of Hong Kong and Singapore from government support to perception from startup founders.
  • Why Shenzhen and Hong Kong has no synergy in the startup ecosystem.
  • In a small market like HK, how does the startups scale beyond the shores?
  • What are the main conferences and events that entrepreneurs in HK or from overseas will want to attend? StartupsHK events, Rise Conference and ReCode.

Podcast Information:

The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bleongcw) and is sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn).