Europe meets Asia - Go international via Hong Kong
by InvestHK Brussels, London and Berlin | 08 July 2020
As part of the virtual StartmeupHK Festival (6-10 July 2020), our webinar provided first hand insights about the European and Hong Kong Start-up ecosystems and what makes European entrepreneurs successful in Asia.
Agenda, 12:30 – 13:30
- Welcome Remarks (InvestHK Offices Brussels, London, Berlin)
- Keynote: European Startup Network (Dr Jan Bormans, CEO)
- Case Study A: Finfabrik (Dr Florian Spiegl, Co-Founder&COO)
- Case Study B: Voxo – Everyone has a voice (Ms Karen Winton, Co-Founder)
- Case Study C: BlueMeg (Mr Paul du Long, CTO)
- Q&A
====================================================================
Why Hong Kong?
There are many factors that make Hong Kong the ideal hub in Asia for companies, start-ups and entrepreneurs:
Located in the heart of Asia
Access to the biggest Asian markets & rapidly growing middle class
Proximity to China’s manufacturing hubs for easy prototyping & scaling production
Developed start-up ecosystem
Access to VCs and other Investors
Excellent IP protection
Hong Kong offers many opportunities and resources to support young companies starting their business in HK and exploring their opportunities in some of the most dynamic markets in Asia.
Hosts
About InvestHK
InvestHK is the Investment Promotion Agency of the Hong Kong Government. Established in July 2000, its main goal is to support overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong.
InvestHK connects Start-ups and Entrepreneurs from all over the world with important networks and players in Hong Kong by providing free advice and customized services aimed at helping businesses succeed in Hong Kong’s vibrant economy.
Find more information
About StartmeupHK
StartmeupHK is an initiative by InvestHK aimed at helping founders of innovative and scalable Start-ups from overseas to set up or expand in Hong Kong. Its services include providing information about the start-up ecosystem in Hong Kong, and on www.hongkong-fintech.hkconnecting people to the start-up community, hosting start-up events and helping to foster a positive environment for Start-ups to thrive.
www.startmeup.hk is a one-stop portal to Hong Kong’s start-up community with access to events and resources that support entrepreneurial journey, including details of potential investors, incubation and acceleration programmes, government funding schemes, co-working spaces and entrepreneur associations.
About Hong Kong StartmeupHK Festival
The annual StartmeupHK Festival – this time in a virtual format – takes place from 6-10 July 2020. It is the ideal platform to learn from experts, pitch your business to investors, meet with manufacturers, and explore new partnerships to accelerate your entry or expansion into Asia’s dynamic markets.
Dr Jan Bormans, CEO of European Startup Network
ESN is an independent network unifying 22 national Start-up associations to create a common voice for European Start-ups and Scale-ups. To allow all European startups to scale globally, it is ESN’s firm belief that one single European startup ecosystem is essential.
By connecting the most relevant national startup associations, ESN aims to open up access to talent, expertise, funds, and customers. ESN houses a joint representation of 30,000+ startups, 150,000+ entrepreneurs, and a social media reach nearing 490K followers on the major platforms.
Speakers
Dr Florian Spiegl, Co-Founder & COO of Finfabrik
FinFabrik is a financial technology firm headquartered in Hong Kong, with offices in Shenzhen and London. The company’s mission is to transform capital markets to achieve broader participation by leveraging blockchain technology.
Its flagship product CrossPool provides a market infrastructure to both asset issuers and investors in private markets, where digital assets meet capital.
Mrs Karen Winton, Co-Founder of Voxo – Everyone has a Voice
VoXo is a subscription-based online platform where “Everyone has a voice”. The team use data to connect women in business who want to speak, with speaking opportunities at professional events hosted by corporates, event planners and other organisations.
In so doing, they are supporting women to further their careers and get into the C-suite, and corporates to practically and visibly measure up to their gender and diversity KPIs through the platform and its professional training and mentoring opportunities.
Mr Paul du Long, CTO of BlueMeg
BlueMeg builds company management and governance software. Every year, hundreds of thousands of companies are set-up in the Asian financial hubs. Doing business there can be challenging, especially the execution of corporate governance. We ensure it gets done.
Founded three years ago, a group of – mostly Dutch – co-founders met and took on this challenge to transform a multi-billion dollar industry.
Post-Event Highlight
The webinar “Europe meets Asia – Go international via Hong Kong” on 8th July gave the audience first hand insights about the European and Hong Kong Start-up ecosystems and discussed the success factors for European entrepreneurs in Asia.
It was a pleasure to welcome BlueMeg (Mr Paul du Long), Finfabrik (Dr. Florian Spiegl), Voxo (Ms Karen Winton) and European Startup Network (Dr Jan Bormans) – a big thank you to all speakers for sharing their expertise!