Venture in Focus

Start-up pitch contests are great ways to gain investor exposures and scale in bigger markets. Themed with “Synergic Development of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, the Hong Kong Chapter of “Maker in China” SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Contest 2021 was met with great enthusiasm, drawing a record number of more than 100 teams and 50 deal flows facilitated, helping bring promising start-ups to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and promoting the development of GBA into an international innovation and technology hub. Watch contest highlight and winners’ sharing and tips.

Top 3 Winners

Champion:
I2COOL - Novel energy-free and environment-friendly passive radiative cooling paint

First runner-up:
MAD Gaze - Augmented reality (AR) smart glasses

Second runner-up:
Greater Bay Biotechnology - Cryomicroneedles (CMNs) platforms for therapeutic cells and other biomedical products

Asia Venture Capital Forum (AVCF) 2021, jointly organised by the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association with Hong Kong Cyberport and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, was the second year in a row the event held in virtual format! The half-day event featured a four-hour long program covering venture investment topics such as foodtech, regtech, SPACs and telemedicine. Limited partners and single family offices shared their views on recent opportunities and challenges. Asian unicorns and corporate ventures discussed success metrics and experiences, among other issues, and there was a focus on the most recent regulatory updates, especially around ESG.

Moderated by Cyberport’s Chief Public Mission Officer, Eric Chan, “The Journey of Asia’s Unicorns” panel discussion at AVCF 2021 featured Asia’s start-ups to share their successful journey to become unicorns, the challenges and obstacles under the pandemic situation and the insights of their business development. Here are the highlights:

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  Chief Public Mission Officer, Cyberport:
  “It is not easy to take the company to the unicorn, and the team has gone through a lot of challenges and overcome many obstacles along the way. Many start-ups would like to know what the key success factors or qualities that a start-up must have so that it becomes attractive to investors.”

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  Robby Yung, CEO, Animoca Brands (Cyberport’s 5th unicorn):
  “I would say persistence and adoptability are key to attract investors. You must be tenacious about addressing the market and willing to change and adapt as the market evolves. It took a lot of courage for us to move the ship to an area uncharted… and turned out to be the right decision. So I think you have to be feasible and willing to change, especially when you are in technology because it’s always changing.
  
  Valuation is not that important because it will happen over time. I think it’s far more important of who is investing, how much and at what price. If somebody is offering you money, take it! Things go in circles all the time and people offer you money when you don’t need it, and they will not want to take your call when you do need it. I would recommend taking the money when someone is offering you. ”

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  William Li, CEO & Co-Founder, Akulaku:
  “You need to have a very strong mindset to keep going on because there are lots of challenges especially during the new normal. You must be determined when investing in the technology because that is the only way that can penetrate in this market.
  
  Pandemic really changes lots of things. Sometimes you need to replan the business. If you think this is not the right way to go along with then just change your plan and change the journey, that is nothing to be ashamed of. ”

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  Russell Cummer, Founder & Executive Chairman, Paidy:
  “Capital - be a human capital or financial capital, is just kind of input that you can use to create what you want to create in your business and your vision, but it doesn’t obviate the need to just get down to business and doing it.
  
  The key to fundraise amidst an economic downturn is to concentrate on improving your business and make sure your business is operating well, and then fundraising will follow. If your business is good at solving a valuable problem in the market, as well as scaling up and de-risking, then they should already address your ability to fundraise. ”