Hong Kong Boosts Tech Startup Funding to Develop Unicorns

Hong Kong Expands Funding Push to Attract Tech Startups and Build Unicorns

Hong Kong is stepping up efforts to draw technology start-ups and develop unicorns through broader financial backing from a major government-supported platform, according to the South China Morning Post. The city is using its active fundraising market and established financial infrastructure to support the push, the report said.

Terry Wong Ping-sau, chief executive of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, described rising investor interest in the local technology sector compared with a decade earlier as an encouraging signal for the city's wider innovation and technology ecosystem. He said traditional enterprises and family offices were especially enthusiastic, motivated by the need for transformation as a younger generation takes over Hong Kong family businesses that had historically focused on conventional operations. Wong added that many of these investors approach the corporation directly, and that as an ecosystem hub it can offer them insight into innovation and technology developments and introduce a range of investment opportunities.

The report noted that Hong Kong helped companies raise about HK$285.8 billion, or US$36.4 billion, through new listings last year. Wong indicated that early-stage financing still had room for improvement relative to the city's fundraising strength.

The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation was set up in 2001 as a statutory body to strengthen the innovation and technology ecosystem by linking stakeholders, developing talent and supplying facilities for research and development.