HK$1bn start-up fund to promote entrepreneurship in Hong Kong's youth here: http://www.hongdaservice.com/blog/hk1bn-start-up-fund-to-promote-entrepreneurship-in-hong-kongs-youth China's largest e-commerce operator, Alibaba Group and its co-founder Jack Ma, have taken a huge step in helping ignite a fire in the start-up scene by pledging to set up an investment fund to the sweet tune of HK$1bn last week. The group's significant financial pledge is set to lay a platform to help promote entrepreneurship in Hong Kong's youth and support local small businesses, something that vice-chairman Joseph Tsai said is not a charity. He stated that investments will be judged on merit and the abilities of start-ups to offer services beyond the city. “We want to support entrepreneurs, we want to support their dreams,” said Mr Tsai. “We also have an idea that Hong Kong should be vibrant, engaged on a regional basis, and also on a global basis.” Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong is also about gender equality, with the city ranking second in the world when it comes to women setting up their own businesses (45%), behind only India, where 49% of entrepreneurs are female.

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Alibaba backing entrepreneurship in Hong Kong
China's largest e-commerce operator, Alibaba Group and its co-founder Jack Ma, have taken a huge
step in helping ignite a fire in the start-up scene by pledging to set up an investment fund to the sweet
tune of HK$1bn last month.
The group's significant financial pledge is set to lay a platform to help promote entrepreneurship in
Hong Kong's youth and support local small businesses, something that vice-chairman Joseph Tsai said
is not a charity. He stated that investments will be judged on merit and the abilities of start-ups to offer
services beyond the city.
“We want to support entrepreneurs, we want to support their dreams,” said Mr Tsai. “We also have an
idea that Hong Kong should be vibrant, engaged on a regional basis, and also on a global basis.”
Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong is also about gender equality, with the city ranking second in the world
when it comes to women setting up their own businesses (45%), behind only India, where 49% of
entrepreneurs are female.
The setting up of a fund like this will surely see the number of female entrepreneurs rise, and focusing
on the youth and education is the best place to start. Alibaba has enlisted the help of Gobi Partners to
become the first manager of the non-profit fund. They will help to support online and bricks-and-mortar
companies and provide 6-12 month Alibaba internships for about 200 students each year.
“We are not subsidising people who can’t help themselves,” said Mr Tsai.
The fund comes as a much needed boost for a start-up community that is well behind that of other
trailblazing countries such as China, Indonesia and India. The start-up scene in Hong Kong, however,
is not lacking in innovation to tackle some of the cities most pressing problems, and filling the market

2. gap.
Read on to get to know a little bit more about 3 start-ups that are making waves in Hong Kong (and
soon the world)...
Start-ups making a difference in Hong Kong
1) GoGoVan
Established in 2013, GoGoVan is a p2p
platform for vans that provide a range of
logistics services. After discovering how hard it
could be to book delivery drivers through Hong
Kong’s dispatch centres, the company created
an app that could connect its huge fleet of
drivers (more than 10000 in Hong Kong alone)
with local users, allowing anyone to
conveniently move a house, deliver goods,
transport pets and more without barely moving
a muscle.
This Uber-like app for logistics is already
gaining steam in other Asian markets such as
Singapore, and is setting its sights on the global
market having secured US$6.5 million in a
Series A funding round led by Centurion
Investment Management earlier in August this
year.
2) Boxful
Hong Kong is recognized as one of the most
densely populated cities on Earth, giving its 7
million+ residents somewhat of a headache
when it comes to managing storage space, but
this is something that innovative on-demand
storage box start-up Boxful hopes to see taken
care of.
Users of this service can store their goods at
one of two warehouses, with prices starting at
HK$29/month for a document box to
HK$89/month for a wardrobe box. This start-up raised $1.5 million for its venture from unnamed angel
investors and has recently launched a major MTR advertising campaign. Expect to see home space
freed up as this start-up continues to grow!
3) Insight Robotics

3. As far as using technology for good is
concerned, Insight Robotics is at the forefront of
protecting industry's natural resources and
infrastructure with its intelligent threat detection
technology.
The company makes use of wildfire detection
robots and unmanned aerial vehicles to
accomplish things such as to detect wildfires,
detect pipeline and electrical faults and ensure
better plantation management. Already in use in
five provinces and seven cities across
mainland China, the company announced in
November it had secured US$2 million in
Series A funding from investors including Bright
Success Capital, and Caldera Capital Partners.
Sure this start-up will put out all sorts of fires in
the years to come!
As you can see from the examples above the start-up scene in Hong Kong, albeit a lot smaller and
under-developed than some other countries in Asia, is beginning to position itself as a hub for
innovation, and one that foreign businesses should be looking at when it comes to cheaper company
formation.
Starting a Hong Kong company provides foreign nationals with so many unique benefits. Coupled with
the support of the proposed start-up fund, foreign companies will surely have a much larger talent pool
to select from in the near future that could see them rise a lot faster than setting up elsewhere in Asia.
Looking at starting a business in Hong Kong? Not sure where to start? We've got
you covered!
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