A raft of initiatives were announced during the two-day Cyberport Venture Capital Forum 2024 (CVCF) in Hong Kong recently, for example the Web3.0 Investment Circle’ (W3IC) and an AI  subsidy scheme, all of which aligns with the Hong Kong government’s commitment to accelerate venture capital activity and development of the Web3.0 and overall IT ecosystem. Georgina Chu zooms into a few notable ones with CXpose.tech.

CVCF 2024 had attracted over 2,600 attendees from the AI, Web3, and venture capital ecosystem, and during a keynote on the second day, Cyberport’s Chief Corporate Development Officer, Georgina Chu, shared about interesting developments in the local ecosystem.

Georgina Chu

With as many as 180 Web3.0 companies joining since the establishment of Cyberport’s Web3.0 hub last year, Georgina noted impressive growth to 272 companies this year;  85% are from Hong Kong, and the rest from mainland China, North America, and Europe.

Georgina also wanted to highlight Cyberport’s Incubation Program, where “gold medal winners of the Hong Kong Sports Academy” in information technology are trained.

This incubation program is designed to offer essential support to startups; for example, an investor event last June had attracted over 70 investors interested in Web3.0 and Georgina emphasized that the event served to showcase Cyberport’s role in connecting startups with potential funding sources.

“We also host a variety of events and activities to engage the community, from training workshops, seminars, to large-scale demo days, that have attracted thousands of participants including industry professionals, entrepreneurs, university students.”

Cyberport, the incubator

Owing to the fact that Cyberport has ready infrastructure and nurtured an ecosystem over the decades, Georgina wanted to acknowledge the stable of existing AI startups that Cyberport currently has.

A combination of all these has attracted two other types of audiences as well – an enterprise network that Georgina sees can partner with startups as well as use their solutions and commercialize them.

There is also the investor network that Cyberport possesses as an official grouping called the Cyberport Investor Network (CIN). She described this network as composed of venture capitals, family offices, or any financial institutions that might be interested to invest in technologies, invest in startups, as well as be a support network for startups that want to grow and scale.

Georgina admitted, “Startups that do come into our incubation program, we provide them funding. Those are not investments we make into them. We give them money to sustain. But at the same time to scale bigger in the future, they do need investors.”

The annual CVCF events held at Cyberport, Hong Kong, are aimed at nurturing investors and sharing market trends with them so that they can make informed decisions.

Hong Kong, the Super Connector

When asked about the dynamics between Hong Kong and Singapore, two modern Asian cities that many may perceive as vying for the status of this region’s financial hub, Georgina was very practical. “Their landscapes are different, and both can learn from the other, so I see both as being complementary with each other.”

She reminisced about her time working in a regional role with an MNC. “I always went to Singapore once a month, basically.

“And I see Singapore is the hub for fixed currency with the biggest transactions, and Hong Kong is more of an equities and stock market hub. So, both have their own strengths in terms of playing a key role for the Asia financial market.”

The similarities end when one observes the multitude of regional headquarters being set up by MNCs in Singapore, and here Georgina stated, “Hong Kong’s role has changed. We are now basically a springboard for many mainland companies that wish to expand their businesses internationally.”

“In fact, when we want a mainland company to expand internationally, Singapore is always the first country we’d want them to land at first, because being familiar in terms of culture, skills, languages, it is an easier landing for them.”

Hong Kong as a springboard for mainland companies offers an international platform to bring these companies onto a global stage.

Integration with the Greater Bay Area

The chief corporate development officer also shared about needed integration for the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a collection of locations comprising Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Shenzhen, which each have unique strengths and contributions to the economy. Georgina said, “China’s policy has been (geared) to integrate the GBA, and we as a super connector can bring in MNCs that want to expand into China, to Hong Kong first.

Agreements like the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA, welcomes Hong Kong and foreign companies to do business in China with easier landing for companies that set up a registered business entity in Hong Kong, and even one-to-one fund matching mechanisms for companies that enter Cyberport’s incubation program and later expand to incubators located in China like Lin Gang.

“In fact, when we want a mainland company to expand internationally, Singapore is always the first country we’d want them to land at first, because being familiar in terms of culture, skills, languages, it is an easier landing for them.”

Cyberport leverages its international network, policy support, investor connections, and ecosystem development to help its startups expand and gain recognition on a global scale. For example it forms partnerships with government agencies in countries that align with China (One Belt, One Road countries) like those in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa regions. “So we bring our startups, MNCs, and Chinese companies to these countries through our network.”

Companies like Klook and GoGoX are two examples of Cyberport startups that have expanded internationally and become well-known brands on a global stage. For Cyberport itself, success looks like 130 new startups every year joining their program, for it to groom, nurture, and springboard to worldwide recognition.