Corporate venturing, the impacts of the tech cold war, and Asian investment opportunities were among the bevy of topics discussed at the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum (CVCF), held on 5-6 November, attracting over 900 technopreneurs, start-ups, venture capitalists, corporate and family investors from the region.
The opening ceremony of this annual signature conference was officiated by Mr Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the HKSAR Government, Dr Lee George Lam, Chairman of Cyberport, Mr Peter Yan, CEO of Cyberport, Mr Duncan Chiu, Chairman of the Steering Group of the Cyberport Investors Network (CIN), and Mrs Cindy Chow, Executive Director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund who succeeded as the new CIN Steering Group chairperson.
This year’s CVCF cast the spotlight on the New Frontier of Tech Venturing. More than 40 speakers from the field including Gobi Partners China, Tencent Investment, IESE Business School, PM Equity Partner, China Resources Capital Management, CLP Holdings, C Ventures, SC Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Happiness Capital, Hendale Capital and more shared their expert perspectives and shed light on the latest trends in tech investment around the world.
The CVCF 2019 also marked the celebration of the second anniversary of the Cyberport Investors Network (CIN) with highly encouraging achievements to share with the audiences. The CIN has successfully raised over HK$360 million and matched 26 partnerships for the Cyberport community throughout the past two years. Another highlight of this year’s celebration was the new CIN steering group chairperson Mrs Cindy Chow, Executive Director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneur Fund, who took up the baton from Mr Duncan Chiu who contributed great efforts in building up strong foundation for the network. She pledged to continue lead the CIN to new heights and accelerate the growth of the start-up ecosystem in Hong Kong.
In addressing the audience at the event opening, “Over the years, this signature event has served the purpose well in connecting the investment community with the digital transformation entrepreneurs, building a win-win partnership,” said Mr Yang, “I hope that you will join hands to help Hong Kong move ahead at this challenging time in the global race of I&T development.”
From angel and VC investment, developments in corporate and family venturing, the rise of alternative funding platforms, to macroeconomic shifts and their implications on start-ups, the state of Asia’s tech investment, and China’s accelerated transition into an innovation-driven economy, experts and thought leaders at CVCF offered ample insights and actionable advices to start-ups and investors so as to navigate and succeed in the global tech investment landscape.
Day two of the CVCF was dedicated to Start-up Workshops, featuring specialty topics of understanding the appetites of “fox investors” and “hedgehog investors”, making start-ups investor-ready, and identifying the cross-border trends and opportunities especially in deep techs such as emotion AI, capsule networks, and ambient computing.
Alongside the forum sessions, the well-received Investor Matching sessions saw more than 200 one-on-one investor-start-up meetings, while the Innovator Showcase featured 30 start-ups from Hong Kong and the Cyberport community. At the Founder Stage, 20 promising start-ups in FinTech, digital entertainment, esports, and smart living tech clusters pitched their innovative projects to investors and corporate audiences.
“Despite the impact brought on by the macro environment, the rapid development of technology and digital transformation in Asia has not slowed down. I am optimistic that the strong momentum of Hong Kong’s tech development will continue. I invite the global VC and enterprise communities to explore win-win opportunities together with Cyberport and to help our start-ups soar to greater heights.” said by Dr George Lam, Chairman of Cyberport.
Click Here to check out the forum photos . For the highlight video, click Here.
