How these Goldman Sachs alumni turned a painful experience into a family business.

It was from a personal painful encounter with foreign exchange that ignited the first sparks in founder and chief executive officer Riccardo Capelvenere to start Currenxie, a Hong Kong-headquartered cross-border payments and business account services startup.

In an interview with Hong Kong Business, Riccardo recounted how his mother’s wine import business, now run by his sister, paid exorbitant sums over decades on cross-border transactions and FX when purchasing from suppliers in Italy and elsewhere. This became the sort of trigger that pushed Riccardo into a new business direction.

Banking on his experiences in quantitative and technology-driven trading, Riccardo, along with his wife Alison, founded Currenxie in 2014.

“Alison had the operational experience as a Chief Operating Officer and together we started building relationships with banking partners around the world, and acquiring payments licenses in different markets. At the same time we were developing our core technology, and by 2017 we had launched the Global Account,” Riccardo said.

And that very wine business? It became their first and longest standing client.

Laying the foundation

Currenxie is a financial services company that helps modern businesses access global commerce, by providing them with a simple solution for making and managing their payments. Essentially, it’s a modern take on the business current account, designed for today’s increasingly borderless world. 

Currenxie offers its clients a single portal - the Global Account - that gives them their own virtual bank account details in every market they do business. They can receive and send fast, borderless bank payments, they have multi-currency digital wallets, and transact at very low costs. 

“This is all handled on our cloud-based platform, which is an in-house core banking system for running our global network and accounts. We are fully vertically integrated, all of our technology has been developed internally,” Riccardo said.

But starting this business in 2014 wasn’t easy.

From day one, Currenxie had to painfully build its network. Riccardo said he and his wife spent the first few years flying all over the world, sometimes spending weeks away from home. Which was hard for them because they initially moved to Hong Kong back in 2013 to be closer with their family. They also drew on their experiences as former Goldman Sachs executives to create a solid business model.

“As we were one of the first fintech companies offering this kind of service in Hong Kong back in 2014, we had no benchmark. Communicating our value, and educating the market about what we had to offer, was an initial challenge. It still is, though there are other fintech companies now, and awareness is increasing. Our early clients all came through word of mouth, whereas now we have multiple channels,” Riccardo explained.

The groundwork that they did eventually paid off as they have built one of the largest virtual account networks in the B2B fintech space that spans more than 30 countries and over 18 currencies.

Recently, the company closed a Series A funding round, bagging close to US$10m ($77.89m) led by family office BF Belmont. 

Currenxie plans to use the fresh funds to build new products, acquire new licenses and authorisations as well as expand to new markets and invest in more talent. The company has raised around US$14m to date. 

“We are currently seeking authorisation for our business in Ireland, which will support our European expansion. We are also looking closely at expanding in another key Asian market next year.  We’re also launching some exciting new products very soon,” Riccardo added.

As of  now, Riccardo isn’t worried about competition in the market, as the B2B payments market is predicted to exceed US$1.9t. He said the market can afford to support many players.

“There are not that many global payments companies with our capabilities, and each brings something different to the table. A certain amount of competition and choice is healthy for the industry and drives innovation,” Riccardo said.

“That said, my team and I are 100% focused on continuing to build our business so that we become a global end-to-end financial services provider for businesses everywhere. We want to reaffirm our commitment to financial inclusion for all as we continue to strive to meet the unique needs of SMEs and enterprises through our platform and virtual account network. The next 5 years will see us re-invest in the business and develop new products, while expanding our global footprint by breaking into new markets. But the future is malleable, anything can happen between now and then and I’m fully open to whatever it may hold, ” he added.

How this fintech startup offers digital solutions with a human touch.

Digital payment continues to gain traction, especially as cash usage dropped from 91% in 2019 to 78% in 2020 in Hong Kong, according to Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2.0.

More and more businesses adapt digital payment methods. These businesses want to enjoy banking services up to their expectations in terms of access to business accounting, pricing, scope of services and customer support, but oftentimes the traditional banks are found lacking in these offers to smaller companies.

This was what Bertrand Theaud, founder of fintech startup Statrys, realized after talks with industry professionals and combining his year of experience in the field.

In an interview with Hong Kong Business, Theaud said that although payment platforms were booming in Europe, they were still not very present in Asia. He then launched Statrys in 2018 to address these issues, with a goal of combining the digital experience with a human touch.

“The name Statrys comes from the ancient Greek word for currency called Statere. While it’s a notably harder name to pronounce, especially in a world where startups prefer a single-syllable  naming idea, we find it makes us stand out more to have a name that people mull around in their mind,” Theaud said.

Their first challenge when Statrys initially started was finding the right people. Theaud said this will always be an ongoing process, but one that gets better and what he banks on as the company’s biggest growth factor.

In simple terms, Statrys is a payment platform that aims to humanise the business payment experience through transparency, removing the mystery of payments and their fees from A to B.

Customers pay their $88 account subscription fee that covers Statrys cost of of implementing regulatory compliance activities to activate and manage their account.

“Our profit making area comes from our competitive transfer fees and foreign exchange fees that are low enough that it would encourage regular usage of our platform for payment of any invoice for businesses of all sizes,” Theaud explained.

To keep their customers trust, Statrys focuses on its complete transparency in pricing and payment fees. Aside from constant upgrades for a smoother user experience, the company also maintains relationships with local institutions and authorities around the globe to help make cross-border payments easier.

These may be some of the reasons why investors have such strong faith with Statrys platform. In November 2020, they raised $38.85m (USD$5m) in a Series A funding round from an undisclosed single investor.

The company is currently in the works of deploying the Statrys Payment Card, powered by Mastercard, to clients so they can directly use their Statrys account for online purchases and point-of-sale transactions. Additionally, preparations are already underway in creating a mobile app.

Theaud said that they focus on customer satisfaction by knowing their pain points and addressing them unlike their competitors.

“At Statrys we provide the relief they’re looking for as small businesses, instead of the latest and greatest tech. Our vision is to be Asia’s go-to payment and forex platform serving SMEs within the next five years. We know tech is not something to eschew either, and with that in mind we want to make sure we supplement our humanizing payment services with the technology that makes it happen,” Theaud added.

How the insurtech startup helps insurers part ways with legacy technology.

One reason why some companies find it hard to let go of legacy technology is that it has proven reliable in both results and problems that come with it. Companies always know what problems will arise and how to deal with these with what they have. But as the world progresses, resolving these hiccups has slowly turned from being tedious to being a factor that holds them back.

For instance, in 2018 insurtech startup Coherent started with the mission to help the insurance industry adapt and evolve to meet macroeconomic, consumer, and digital challenges that impact the industry.

“Our core focus is to help insurers do things faster, smarter and simpler—specifically, making insurance more personalised and digital for customers and distributors. Although many insurers have fantastic brands and heritage, many of them are being held back by legacy technology systems and those constraints are restraining them from making meaningful changes in their customer experience, product offerings, and distribution processes,” CEO and co-founder of Coherent John Brisco said in an exclusive interview with Hong Kong Business.

He also identified challenges that many in the insurance industry face like slow product development, complicated selling process, low customer acquisition and engagement, and antiquated policy administration platforms.

Coherent helps insurers to overcome these challenges by reducing product development time from months to weeks. The Coherent Flow and Coherent Explainer platforms help insurance distributors sell remotely and more intelligently with simple, easy-to-use interactive quotes and illustrations so their customers can understand what they’re buying more easily.

A marketing platform will also be available for insurers that helps insurance marketers understand more about their customers’ behaviours by instantly connecting them through social messaging platforms.

Meanwhile, the automated policy management system Coherent Sonic helps insurers process high volume transactions in real-time with full auditability and scalability.

“We run predominantly on a licensing/SaaS model—this includes licensing our core proprietary technology Spark, as well as our platforms that run on Spark. Every insurer has unique needs, therefore, our commercial licensing model will adapt and reflect various factors to find the right ‘win-win’ outcomes for our clients and Coherent,” Brisco explained when asked about how the company makes profits.

In November 2020, Coherent raised more than $18.44m (US$14m) in a Series A funding led by Cathay innovation with the participation of Franklin Templeton.

According to Brisco, there are limitless opportunities in insurance that’s why Coherent continues to upgrade its core proprietary technology named Spark, which is Coherent’s logic and rules engine offering API services, data storage, and cloud provisioning. Another leverage the company keeps in top shape is it's team.

“Our competitive edge revolves around our people and core technology. Often, the value of really great people is forgotten as a key factor in a business’s success. We have developed an amazing team that is made up of 20+ nationalities with multiple skill sets, and a number of industry insiders who understand insurance deeply. The team creates the magic and energy that we ride on,” Brisco said.

FDT is behind Asia’s first ​Rapid Settlement and Clearing Network (RSCN).

When it comes to the finance industry, all eyes are on the fintech scene even before the pandemic prompts players to keep up with the heightened demand. However, the same cannot be said for the trust industry. Filling this gap is Hong Kong-based startup First Digital Trust (FDT), riding on the bulk of opportunities fintechs are currently enjoying.

“A lot of fintech companies are very good at technology but have little experience in running financial institutions—you have to comply with international standards, tax regulation, especially if you’re servicing cross-border clients and moving money across borders,” FDT’s COO Gunnar Jaerv told Hong Kong Business. “Trust has always been an old-fashioned concept, hence the name—we’re modernising and digitising these functions. We’re going through a new revolution with virtual banks and open banking, and doing the same in the trust space.”

FDT is the digital asset custody arm of Hong Kong-based financial company Legacy Trust. It is a fiduciary taking on a B2B approach in holding businesses’ assets, which also enables global and cross-border asset settlements.

FDT has built up its platform to launch Asia’s first ​Rapid Settlement and Clearing Network (RSCN)​, which will allow the startup to manage digital assets under their custodianship safely and efficiently. Currently, RSCN is currently in use by some of their clients and a public launch is yet to come.

Jaerv shared that their main projects focus on APIs and technology solutions. They’re also looking to expand their licensing in different jurisdictions, positioning the startup as a global company.

FDT recently nabbed a $23.25m (US$3m) seed funding from Taiwanese VC firm Nogle last March. In the next 18 months, they will conduct another funding round when their products are more mature, Jaerv said.

“Custodians are important to ensure trust in holding the underlying assets backing tokens. In Hong Kong, trust companies such as First Digital Trust can already play a key role to facilitate this trend, being set-up as a public trust company holding a Trust and Company Service Provider (TCSP) license from Companies Registry, allowing the custody of various asset classes to ensure the trust required for this industry to mature,” said Jonathan Leong, co-founder and chairman of Nogle.

Caption: Vincent Chok, CEO of FDT

Omnichat is a messaging platform and can also monitor ecommerce movements.

Every ecommerce business’ nightmare is low conversion rates, or the percentage of web visitors who were able to get what they came for out of the total number of visitors. This can come on the back of lack of communication efficiency, leading to missed orders and to an inability to identify which products web visitors viewed or even liked. Solving this pain point, Hong Kong-based startup Omnichat has created an omni-channel messaging platform that claims to achieve higher conversion rates, sales and customer service efficiency.

“I started the business because I faced the same pain point before when I was running my own ecommerce business in 2012,” Alan Chan, founder and CEO of Omnichat told Hong Kong Business. “I missed a lot of orders due to lack of efficiency to communicate with people when they visited my ecommerce website. That’s how I realised the importance of real-time messaging communication and understanding of ecommerce users behaviours.”

Omnichat aims to help ecommerce merchants connect all their users’ messenger channels, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Line and WeChat, and map all their purchasing behaviours through a single platform. Merchants will be able to chat with their customers and provide marketing automation to them as well, turning website visitors into purchasers.

Apart from this, the platform can identify and share merchant insights, such as which are the most viewed and purchased products. It can also tell which messenger channels are the best way to convert users from a website visitor to a real purchaser.

The service-as-a-service (SaaS) startup then charges merchants on a monthly or yearly subscription based on the number of users they acquired through the different massaging channels.

In March, Omnichat secured $6.2m (US$800,000) in a seed funding led by Taiwan-based venture capital firm AppWorks, which was also participated by other investors including the Hong-Kong based Aria Group. “The most challenging thing we faced during the funding round is how we keep a high growth rate on both product and business,” Chan shared. He added that they had to make sure that they maintained a high revenue growth, low churn rate and high user retention rate to prove the value of their product and business.

They aim to spend 50% of their funding in further perfecting the product, whilst the other half will go to business development and marketing initiatives.

“I believe the most important way to win the competition is how we provide the better understanding of customer’s behaviours during their ecommerce user journey. We already understand the customer's favourite product views and purchases and connect all their messenger channels, thus triggering the personalised message to the best channels at the right time, bringing high conversion rate to the customers,” Chan added. 

Spidfier offers a solution that could shorten the process of verifying fishes at a cheaper rate.

In one of the largest importers of fish products in the world, Hong Kong is no stranger to fish fraud, a problem that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations revealed could incur a total loss of $178.25b (US$23b) a year. Furthermore, nine out of 11 fish products are often found mislabelled in six Hong Kong markets, which are usually sold higher than it actually costs. Whilst companies may take it to labs, hire fish morphologists or put expensive trackers in each fish in verifying, the processes are still lengthy and pricey—one that is not entirely accessible to the whole seafood industry.

In addressing this multi-billion dollar problem, biotech startup Spidfier has created a lab-in-a-box solution that can be used any time along the supply chain process, even at the end when a customer calls for quality assurance.

“There's just no way to tell the difference between a farmed fish and a wild one. They look exactly the same as they're the same species. It's only really through DNA that you can tell the difference between them,” Harold Mollison, CEO and co-founder of Spidfier, told Hong Kong Business. “Our tech doesn't rely on any trackers, it reads the DNA. So [the lab-in-a-box] can go into any point along their supply chain using the machine that doesn't need to have any prior information put in any fish and then they can identify it.”

In the traditional way where a fish gets taken into a laboratory, the whole process could take a week and may cost up to $775.02 (US$100) without the logistical costs, Mollison stated. Spidfier claims that their solution is not only cheaper at around $465.03 (US$60), but can also shorten the processing time to just 30 minutes.

The startup’s machine has two cartridges: one is used for sequencing and one is a sample cartridge. DNA samples can be taken through a cheek swab on a live fish, a tail or fin sample from and dead, or through taking a small part of a fillet. After mixing it with a certain amount of proprietary liquids inside the machine, it will then extract the DNA, send the information to their server which contains a database of over 9,000 kinds of fish. The final report can now be sent to the user’s devices.

In February, Spidfier nabbed $415,149 (US$53,566) from London-based accelerator Entrepreneur First. They also have three more fundings secured from SOSV’s Hax Accelerator, University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

The funds will be used to boost their production capabilities and distribute those to various firms. “Our solution is the only one that is comprehensive, so we've used this to leverage connections with the Hong Kong government, with largest sourcing companies and even worldwide regulatory companies,” Mollison added.

Photo caption: (Left) Harold Mollison and (Right) Dr. Syed Shakeel Ahmed

The total value of startup deals hit $9.84b, a 39% YoY drop compared to last year.

Venture capital (VC) firms are starting to hold back on injecting funds into startups as economic uncertainties continues to threaten Hong Kong’s financial stability. But despite this, it is business-as-usual for some startups and VCs.

In this issue of Hong Kong Business’ Hottest Startups, we identified the 17 biggest disclosed and early-stage funding rounds between Q2 2019 and end-Q1 2020, by startups that are not more than three years old.

On top of the list is indoor mapping startup Mapxus, also known as Maphive Technology Limited, which clinched $23.28m in a seed funding round led by Beyond Ventures last November. Coming up at second place is gaming firm Area28 Technologies with a $16.69m seed funding from Vectr Ventures and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, followed by fashion edtech startup MOTIF which secured $15.52m.

Proptech startup HOMI Smarthome came in at fourth place, with a $13.19m funding, whilst rounding up the top five is business spaces booking platform Booqed at $13m.

Other notable startups are OneOneDay ($10.09m), Genvida ($10m), OliveX ($7.76m), Volt14 ($7.41m), Carnot Innovations ($6.21m), enabot ($3.88m), ZuBlu ($2.33m), Wizpresso ($2m), GitStart ($1.16m), Neufast ($1.16m), ZhenHub ($1.16m) and Bookairfreight ($777,725). Overall, the average funding of these 17 startups is at $8m.

“It’s been a tough last year for Hong Kong in general due to the political climate and protests which caused some uncertainty in the economy. It’s certainly caused a knock-on effect for our startup ecosystem with investors becoming more risk-averse. They have been closely monitoring the situation before committing to deploying capital,” said Betatron’s venture partner Sam Ameen.

For the whole of 2019, data from the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (HKVCA) showed that venture capital (VC) firms participated in 58 startup funding deals, which totalled $9.84b (US$1.27b). This was a 39% drop compared to $16.2b (US$2.09b) in 2018, despite having fewer deals, 51, in the prior year.

“The fund-raising activities were active particularly in the first nine months of 2019. But the situation turned around since October 2019 due to the social movement in Hong Kong especially the implementation of anti-mask law and the siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in October and November 2019 respectively,” Lap Man, co-founder and managing partner of Beyond Ventures.

In addition, HKVCA noted that H1 2019 had 31 deals with a total deal amount of US$872.1m. Comparably in H2 2019, it only saw 27 deals garnering US$399.73m.

“In 2018, you saw big fundraising rounds. So they’re very cashed up right now and have been executing for quite a while. There have been some political barriers raised by the US government in relation to what they call ‘the blacklisting’. But given that they have already raised significant rounds in 2018, [startups] have been able to execute quite well,” said Denis Tse, founding managing partner of Asia-IO Holdings. Rising government support.

Despite the drop in funds injected into Hong Kong, the government has been showing continuous support for deeptech startups. “We still see some deals in HK initiated by VC Funds and co-invested by those VC Funds and HKSAR Government,” Man added.

“The government has been quite supportive in two separate directions: through co-investing with a few of these venture managers by means of a formalised co-investment programme; and also the government indirectly through their secretary bodies and affiliated organisations have also set up their venture funds,” Tse stated.

One of these funds is the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF), which serves as a co-investment vehicle that goes alongside selected VC funds as coinvestment partners. They invest in local I&T startups at a matching investment ratio of approximately one to two. In the first batch, it co-invested in seven deeptech startups in H2 2019. In HKB’s Hottest Startups list, there are three startups that received indirect funding from IVTF, namely, Mapxus, Genvida and enabot. The funding scheme was due close applications for another round of funding on 31 March. 

In addition, the Hong Kong Budget last February mentioned that $380m of the $30b fiscal stimulus would be used to subsidise the rents of Hong Kong Cyberport and Hong Kong Science & Technology Park’s tenants.

Banks adopting blockchain
Even though there have been no big funding rounds in fintech lately, Ameen stated that blockchain startups have been getting a lot of attention as banks turn their heads to tech.

“Every bank and most large financial institutions are assessing blockchain opportunities right now—whether that’s a direct investment or integrating blockchain into their internal operations. I see this trend continuing given the favourable regulations in Hong Kong compared to other jurisdictions around the world,” Ameen added.

Apart from blockchain, Man observed another trend amongst startups. “Those Chinese companies producing products, such as fast-moving consumer goods, beverage, cosmetic and electronic appliances, leveraging the China brand. These goods used to be monopolised by the Western brands,” Man stated.

He noted that in the past ne or two years, the quality and design of those products and services are catching up or even outperforming those Western brands with more competitive prices.

“Chinese investors tend to look at Hong Kong-based ventures run by Hong Kong founders, or in other instances, Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs that have been actively reaching out into the China market. So there has to be some connectivity already between the entrepreneurs. They have their attention on the China market” Tse explained.

Alfred Lam, research and policy director of HKVCA, is also expecting to see more online tutorial platforms in Hong Kong and China as education technology has become an attractive segment for retail investors. VCs also mentioned other underserved verticals have been gaining traction, including insurance technology, biotech and life sciences, logistics, supply chain, and marine shipping.

1. Mapxus

Founders: John Chan, Ocean Ng
Funding: Mapxus (Maphive Technology Limited) has raised $23.28m (US$3m) in funding over a seed round in November 2019, led by Beyond Ventures.
Start of operations: 2018

AI startup Mapxus brings the location technology commonly developed for outdoors to indoor spaces through its indoor mapping technology platform. The startup digitises indoor navigation by providing a ready-touse software development kit so that business organisations, government bodies, and social enterprises alike can build city-based indoor map applications for public sharing. In July 2019, the startup became part of Apple’s Indoor Maps programme, providing indoor mapping services to enable app development for iPhones and iPads.

2. Area28 Technologies

Founder: Tony Zander
Funding: Area28 Technologies bagged $16.69m (US$2.15m) from a seed round in December 2019, led by Vectr Ventures and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.
Start of operations: 2017

Gametech startup Area28 develops a collaborative Googledocs-like platform for game developers. The firm claims to be the first and only cloud-based game engine. Area28’s Content Development Suite (CDS) feature enables realtime collaborative development amongst dispersed game developer teams. It also eases game builders’ workflow by allowing game testers to play multiple iterations. The platform is also said to feature stakeholder reviews, where game studios can track the progress and feedback of the individual aspects of the development process.

3. MOTIF

Founder: Alvanon Global fashion innovation company
Funding: In November 2019, MOTIF secured $15.52m ($2m) in a seed round from The Mills Fabrica.
Start of operations: 2017

Started by global fashion innovation company Alvanon, MOTIF is a fashion industry-focused e-learning platform for professionals and companies, built to respond to the fast-paced emergence of new skills in the apparel industry. Aiming to close the skills gap in this segment, the learning hub offers eight programmes, which include courses on 3D transformation, apparel costing, and how to run a fit session. They also have courses aimed at corporate HR or business teams that need to make sure employees have sound fundamentals and cross-functional understanding. They plan to add more courses on commercial and soft skills.

4. HOMI Smarthome

Founder: Amar Dhillon
Funding: In July 2019, HOMI SmartHome raised $13.19m
(US$1.7m) in a seed round led by Singapore-based investors
SeedPlus, AngelCentral, and Xoogler Angels.
Start of operations: 2017

HOMI SmartHome is a consumer IoT services company that provides smart home services across Asia. It offers consolidated smart home systems with consultations, installation, and 24/7 customer support and charge their customers for as low as $2 a day. The startup’s products include a wide array of products such as light switches, smart locks, cameras and modules. It comes with an app for efficient management of these smart home devices. Their installation services can take no more than three hours.

5. Booqed

Founders: Charles Oh, David Wong, Ken Huang
Funding: In October 2019, Booqed bagged $13m ($1.68m) in a seed funding led by real estate management firm Colliers, US-based seed accelerator Techstars and investment firm Lazard Korea.
Start of operations: September 2016

Booqed is an online platform for booking short-term meeting and working spaces with operations across nine cities in Asia. Guided by the goal of making every space attainable for business, the platform facilitates transactions between tenants and landlords, helping tenants find shortterm spaces and aiding landlords in monetising unused spaces. Aside from coworking spaces, Booqed also boasts a mobile app for faster transactions and a concierge dedicated to meeting every clients’ needs.

6. OneOneDay

Founder: Rick Tsing
Funding: In May 2019, OneOneDay secured $10.09m (US$1.3m) in a pre-series A funding round from individual investors such as Tiberius Holdings’ founding partner Rohan Malhotra.
Start of operations: 2017

Adtech startup OneOneDay allows users to block out and plays ad videos that the user only wants to see. Its app uses blockchain, artificial intelligence and psychometrics analysis for viewers to register their preferences and replace intrusive ads. It will then put together a ‘playlist’ of ads that users can choose. Watching an ad also allow viewers to earn cash rewards, whilst a part of that revenue goes to charity works. Users may choose on what causes they would like to support.

7. Genvida

Founders: Daniel So, Chi Yip Ho, Ka Wai Hong
Funding: Genvida raised $10m (US$1.28m) in a series A funding round through the government’s Innovation and Technology Fund.
Start of operations: 2019

Founded by a group of engineers, biotech firm Genvida aims to help physicians, government officials and the patient themselves make better decisions. Their key product is the Solid State Nanopore Sequencing (SONAS) technology, which offers a fourth-generation nucleic acid sequencing solution. Genvida claims that this tech makes the lowest possible per base and per run cost, assuring high quality results by their systems’ ultrahigh accuracy. Last year, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation partnered with Genvida to establish the Sensor Lab to boost R&D of micro/nano sensors technology.

8. Olivex

Founder: Keith Rumjahn
Funding: In 2019, OliveX secured $7.76m (US$1m) in a seed round from Lithuanian strategic investors Alabaster and Anatanas Guoga.
Start of operations: 2017

OliveX is a fitness app that utilises artificial intelligence and gamification to help users track their fitness habits. One of its apps is KARA Smart Fitness, which allows clients to exercise with celebrity trainers by streaming pilates, yoga, boxing, and high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Their second app is Ba Duan Jin, which is a Google Play users’ choice award nominee for 2019. It is a gamified fitness app that teaches users the martial art of eight brocades, which is a scientifically proven exercise that improves fitness for all ages, especially for the elderly.

9. Volt14

Founders: Adam Haldar, Animesh Kumar Jha
Funding: Volt14 bagged $7.41m (US$955,000) in a seed funding round on November 2019, from 500 Durians, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park’s venture arm, and Entrepreneur First.
Start of operations: 2018

Volt14 is a nanotech startup which develops ultra-high performance materials for lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries, aiming to double the energy densities of mass-produced batteries. They claim that its anodes will accelerate battery energy densities by up to 70%, which eliminates range anxiety of dollar per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh) storage costs by almost 40%. The anodes can be used by any Li-on battery, from 3C applications to defence and space. Volt14 stated that compared to other battery materials startups, they use a wet chemistry approach where a battery producer can use their existing production lines to mass produce their anodes without any manufacturing bottlenecks.

10. Carnot Innovations

Founders: Ashish Jerry Justin, Chris Choy
Funding: In November 2019, Carnot Innovations secured $6.21m (US$800,000) from 500 Startups’ Southeast Asia-focussed 500 Durians Fund, MTZ Holdings, and Entrepreneur First (EF).
Start of operations: 2018

Carnot Inovations uses advanced machine learning algorithms to detect and predict maintenance, control logic and operations defects in HVAC systems such as chillers, pumps, cooling towers, heat pumps, AHUs. They assist facility managers to perform targeted defect rectifications at optimal times and ensures persistent energy and maintenance cost savings of over 20%. It also features equipment life and efficient utilisation of operator time and enables AI-powered continuous commissioning.

11. Enabot

Founder: Erika Zhu
Funding: Its latest funding round raised $3.88m (US$500,000) in a pre-series A funding round last January.
Start of operations: 25 June 2018

Enabot is a technology startup, manufacturing smart robots equipped with artificial intelligence. Its main product Ebo, is a smart robot companion for cats that works in various ways. It can take photos and videos of cats remotely, allows users to interact with their pets, roll and spin around to entertain cats and functions as a trainer. Other features include self-learning AI, automatic docking and charging. In addition, it comes with a smart collar that allows Ebo to monitor cat’s activity and mood trackers. All of these features can be accessed through a mobile app.

12. ZuBlu

Founders: Adam Broadbent, Matthew Oldfield
Funding: ZuBlu has raised a total of $2.33m (US$300,000) from Betatron.
Start of operations: 2017

ZuBlu is an innovative travel platform to search, compare and book scuba diving and underwater adventure travel in Asia. With ZuBlu, divers can make sustainable travel choices effortlessly, whilst actively contributing to ocean conservation. With over 250 eco-friendly resorts and liveaboards to choose from, guests can explore some of the best diving throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Pacific, Maldives and the Red Sea. An experience-driven platform, ZuBlu puts the power of discovery in the hands of the user, offering the choice to search the best location based on a desired encounter - from seeing sharks, turtles and manta rays, to diving oral reefs, shipwrecks as well as underwater caves.

13. Wizpresso

Founder: Calvin Cheng
Funding: Wizpresso has raised a total of $2m in a pre-seed round raised last March 2019.
Start of operations: 2018

Looking to take the pain away from the conventional paperwork, Wizpresso allows investors and analysts collect, benchmark and analyse operational and alternative data online. It uses proprietary machine learning algorithms with search engines across public filings of listed companies in Hong Kong, China and the US. The startup’s CEO, Calvin Cheng claims this also takes the pain away from the fact that some companies do not reveal susbstantial operational data or even alternative data. The platform’s subscription plans are said to have the same costs with a cup of coffee every day, thus complementing their name “Wizpresso”.

14. GitStart

Founder: Hamza Zia
Funding: GitStart has raised a total of $1.16m (US$150,000) last August 2019 in a seed round led by Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund.
Start of operations: 2017

As companies scramble in acquiring the best tech talent suitable for their company, GitStart aims to equip software developers with the necessary skills for firms in need of a specific skillset. Through its AI-powered platform, developers who wish to improve their skills may start with small coding jobs. As they improve, GitStart will then recommend these individuals to companies for full-time hiring. The platform sets a base income higher than the minimum wage. Their CEO Hamza Zia, said that they’ve accepted 200 developers from the launch of their platform and rejected 1,200 at the same time.

15. Neufast

Founders: Agnes Wun, Dennis Lee
Funding: Neufast Limited has raised a total of $1.16m (US$150,000) last February 2020 from the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and Chinaccelerator.
Start of operations: 2018

Human resources startup Neufast has created a platform that scans a candidate’s CV, matches their abilities to the job requirements, and benchmarks against the skills the candidate should have. It then puts the candidate through an array of online psychometric tests before finally moving to a 30-minute ideo interview with the hiring manager. This technology is rooted in the research of I/O psychology and AI computing. assessment needs. After a few tests, it submits the overall performance score to the HR manager, which is said to predict their success in the workplace.

16. ZhenHub

Founders: Eric Choi, Sheldon Li, Vince Poon
Funding: ZhenHub bagged a total of $1.16m (US$150,000) in a seed round on October 2019, led by Betatron and SparkLabs Accelerator.
Start of operations: 2016

Logistics startup Zhenhub enables retailers to execute global logistics operations in one platform, from ecommerce vendor’s search for warehouses, gathering quotes,  inbounding products, and to tracking those products after they’ve been shipped. Their free platform allows merchants to manage their inventory, integrate with sales channels and fulfill their orders. Zhenhub claims that they take their users away from messing around in Excel for checking every error. Some of its partners are Shopify and crowdfunding firms Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

17. Bookairfreight

Founders: Daisy Jiang, Stefan Vanberg
Funding: Bookairfreight has raised a total of $775,225 (US$1m) in a seed round in October 2019, led by VC firm and startup accelerator Betatron.
Start of operations: 2018

Bookairfrieght calls themselves a one-stop freight solution for SMEs. They provide instant quotations, transparent pricing and trackings. They also cover up to US$10,000 on insured value and offer compensation for late deliveries. The startup’s platform carries a network of tier 1 freight forwarders across 51 countries and its transparent pricing service lays out wholesale air freight rates before clients are committed to a purchase. Its Instant Quotation feature claims to save 72 hours of clients’ time and that their rates are 20% cheaper than other air freight booking platforms.

The startup offers eight programmes, which include courses on 3D transformation and apparel costing.

E-learning platform MOTIF aims to plug the widening skills gap in the fashion industry by providing a professional community and catalogue of online training material for professionals and companies.

“The apparel industry is undergoing some major disruptions caused by pressures for speed-to-market, sustainability and personalisation. These disruptions are making a growing skills gap more and more evident,” Catherine Cole, CEO of MOTIF, told Hong Kong Business Magazine.

Cole also stated that the last generation that has production floor expertise will be retiring in five to ten years time and that there is a growing demand for skills that include data, 3D product design and development and digital marketing.

The startup offers eight programmes which include courses on 3D transformation, apparel costing, and how to run a fit session. Cole shared that they plan to double their courses by end-2020 that will cover technical skills such as commercial and soft skills for the apparel/fashion industry. They also have courses aimed at corporate HR or business teams that need to make sure employees have sound fundamentals and cross-functional understanding.

In November, MOTIF bagged $15.66m (US$2m) in a seed funding by fashion innovation firm Alvanon and incubator The Mills Fabrica.

They are working on virtual reality-enabled factory visits for professionals.

The advertising startup allows their users to earn cash rewards when watching ads on their platform.

Advertising is not just expensive, but can also be troublesome with around 30% of the global internet population blocking ads. Addressing these pain points, adtech startup OneOneDay gives viewers a choice to watch the kinds of ads they want to see.

“Advertisers are spending so much money but a lot of ads are not on target and it becomes wastage. The second problem is not viewers are actually the blocking, or they’re skipping,” said Rick Tsing, the founder and CEO of OneOneDay said. “I really think that what sets us apart is that we do need to start respecting viewers’ attention and stop respecting the fact that we should not be intruding anyone’s attention anymore without user’s permission.”

The startup’s app, dubbed as Oodies, allows viewers to register their preferences. OneOneDay makes this possible using blockchain, AI and psychometrics analysis. The platform then sends the user a customised playlist of ads on a daily basis. Watching an ad allows users to earn cash rewards, whilst a part of that money goes to charity works. Viewers can then have a choice as well on which social causes they would like to support.

“So we’ve been thinking, what if we can create a fair trade market that bridges these two parties together by asking for viewers’ permission to watch the ads and share advertising revenue back to the users? And if that person’s attention is being spent on watching an ad and it generates any income, that person should have human 
rights,” Tsing explained.

OneOneDay raised $10.13m (US$1.3m) in a pre-series A funding last May, attended by individual investors. One of them is Tiberius’ Holdings founding partner Rohan Malhotra, who also acts as one of their board directors.

So far, the firm has launched its app in India despite being a Hong Kong-based firm. Tsing noted that India is a huge market compared to Hong Kong and that it has a rising economy and a strong smartphone penetration.

The platform uses a neural network in scanning CVs.

Hiring staff in a city where the turnover rate is 12.7% is a difficult task, made all the more so by hiring managers who aren’t sure of the skills they really need and candidates struggling to match their abilities to the job. HR startup Neufast has created a platform that scans a candidate’s CV, matches their abilities to the job requirements, and benchmarks against the skills the candidate should have. It then puts the candidate through an array of online psychometric tests before finally moving to a 30-minute video interview with the hiring manager.

All these steps should increase the quality of staff hired and reduce turnover rates, argued Neufast’s CEO Agnes Wun, who secured a US$150,000 funding from SOSV China.

Neufast says it offers a quicker and more standardised way of choosing candidates. It uses a neural network to do their algorithm and establishes a benchmarking assessment based on the employee profile and extracts information from their CVs, such as skills and knowledge.

It also does a psychometric assessment based on the five-factor model of personality, which tests their workplace behaviour, and the final step is the 30-minute video interview.

Neufast then submits the overall performance score to the HR manager, which is said to predict their success in the workplace. The manager will then decide whether the candidate should be invited for a face-to-face interview.

“Very often, people ditch out, who don’t have like the holistic view of the market of the workplace. And when they go and fill up those roles, they spend lots of time and energy trying to understand what the hiring manager is trying to look for and a pain point for a manager is that the HR does not necessarily understand the requirement of these roles. So we come into assist the HR manager to do quicker, more accurate and scientific way of selection,” said Wun.

The Neufast CEO said they are also currently doing a fundraising targeting $3.9m (US$500,000) to $7.8m (US$1m) to bolster their expansion in Mainland China and Southeast Asia.

“APAC’s economic growth will be around 5% to 6%. So we do expect our growth to be above this. I see that a lot of overseas companies, like German companies, are very active in opening up new factories and new chemical plants to capture the China market. So they would hire very aggressively. And so that’s why we need to consider this as our growth engine,” Wun concluded.

It offers a one-stop shop including a physical outlet stocked with tools and an online marketplace.

When entrepreneurs Benny Liu, Andy Lau and Simon Tang pooled their savings and set out to establish a one-stop digital renovation platform, the home renovation industry in Hong Kong was rickety at best. Homeowners were plagued by a crippling lack of information, low transparency rates and quality issues with suppliers, homeowners had little choice but to hire an extremely costly decorator or do the work themselves without the convenience of a central platform that could assign them a reliable company that could respond to their particular renovation needs.

Enter HKDecoman. Launched in 2016, the startup connects homeowners with decoration companies and engineers as well as offer consultancy services for home renovation through its website. Once information of the renovation unit is entered into the system, a consultant will follow up within twelve hours to respond to the user’s design preference, budget and location. The startup will then proceed to select up to three companies for the user whilst a specialist will monitor progress during renovation. “Other than other similar platforms offering one to two related services, what HKDecoman is trying to do is to build the whole online to offline ecosystem,” the firm told Hong Kong Business.

Online marketplace, education
The startup also has a physical office called HKDecoBar which aims to be the city’s largest renovation experience centre. The bar offers monthly courses and a trial-use area stocked with renovation materials, parts and tools. The DIY tools and building materials available on its bar are all paired with a QR code that are linked to the items for sale in its e-marketplace, HKDecoMall.

Beyond the startup’s main offerings, HKDecoman takes its commitment to advancing the renovation industry by honing its educational component. The startup has produced over 700 tutorial videos and provides online decorating tips and anti-scam guidelines on its website. “HKDecoman is the only player in the industry which has invested a lot in building content, divided into articles and video, which enables our users to have an all-round experience during the whole process, starting from researching info to post-decoration services,” the firm added.

The startup is now valued at $50m after it raised US$1.4m in funding in October 2018. HKDecoman aims to enhance products and integrate resources before embarking on its plans to expand into China and Southeast Asia over the next three years.

The startup digitises real-world assets.

Hong Kong-based startup FinFabrik makes use of blockchain technology to digitise real-world assets like equities, fixed income, and real estate. It aims to shake up the infrastructure of capital markets through its range of solutions that target the end-to-end lifecycle including Crosspool for issuance, CryptoFabrik for trading and QuantFabrik for the market-making of digital assets.

“Our team is focused on creating solutions that enable owners to deploy their assets and liabilities. Owners may digitise and fractionalise their tangible and intangible assets, raise capital, and reach investors in a frictionless manner using FinFabrik’s proprietary blockchain and machine learning technologies,” Alex Medana, FinFabrik’s co-founder and CEO said.

In February, FinFabrik raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by BitMEX Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange and derivatives trading platform BitMEX, to enhance its capital markets software solution and explore new product offerings based on digital assets.

Access to capital
Through asset digitisation and tokenisation, real-world assets like equities, fixed income, real estate are divvied up into fractional equity ownership and transformed into digital assets that make use of distributed ledger technology.

“By transforming traditionally alternative, illiquid assets into Digital Asset-Backed Securities, FinFabrik powers a digitally integrated end-to-end lifecycle, from issuance to trading. This will broaden access to assets and capital, link supply and demand more efficiently and enable innovative new business models,” FinFabrik said in its website.

Photo from hongkong-fintech.hk

The startup aims to make money management across markets easy and accessible.

Smart spending tracker gini has raised US$1.6m in a seed round led by early stage fintech VC Vectr Ventures in January in its bid to help users take greater control over their finances.

Through gini’s mobile app, users can easily view their spending across all off their bank accounts in one convenient viewing. The app also has a feature that enables users to pick up, sort and categorise expenses as well as generate visual insights like pie charts and graphs on their spending.

The startup draws its name from the Gini coefficient which measures income inequality. In June 2017, Hong Kong’s Gini coefficient hit a 45-year high at 0.539. “Hong Kong has one of the worst
Gini coefficients. We can’t fix that but we can give people the tools to deal with this,” CEO Raymond Wyand said.

Since its beta launch in March 2018, gini claims to have amassed 20,000 users and handled over $6b in transactions in line with its goal of being compatible with over 3,000 overseas banks across 60 countries before 2019 ends by starting with over 60 banks across Hong Kong, France, Switzerland and the UK.

“Ultimately, our goal is to build a truly worldwide financial marketplace, to service not just a user’s home market but make managing money across markets accessible and easy for anyone to do,” Wyand added. “This new seed round allows us to start making that vision a reality, and we have a strong new partner in Vectr who shares our passion and believes in our vision for what gini can do to disrupt the global personal finances industry more broadly, and make financial freedom accessible to everyone around the world.”

Photo from gini's Facebook page

It also unveiled its physical store in Lansing House following a positive online response.

Incubated and nurtured by infant retail industry veterans and sisters Arati Limbu and Anuradha Limbu Chettri, Baby Basics came to life after their previous place of employment, Bumps to Babes, closed down in March 2018.

The sisters moved quickly to plug the gap in the market and create a space where parents can easily shop for their infant and toddler needs. Arati and Anuradha purchased 20% of the best-selling products from the Bumps to Babes liquidation sale and hired a number of their ex-colleagues to sustain the business momentum.

Following the warm response to its online shopping site (babybasicshk.com), the sisters unveiled a brick and mortar store in Lansing House, Central fully stocked with well-loved baby brand names from the UK and Europe.

“[Beyond] providing bespoke customer service for everyone we also wanted to create a space for our community in the form of our new Central store. Our space is not only for shopping but also welcomes parents and children who are looking for a place to relax, we have a designated area for this purpose,” Anuradha told Hong Kong Business.

The store also houses an in-store breastfeeding facility for mothers looking for a private room to take care of their baby’s nutrient requirements. “We also welcome working mums who may want to pump milk in privacy [since] a lot of work places do not have this facility leaving mums to pump in workplace restrooms,” she added.

Even as it builds on the legacy of Bumps to Babes, the sisters aim to go beyond what their previous workplace achieved and relentless work to enhance the shopping experience.

“After just two months of business we are inspired every day by the joy of our customers that come into our store, they feel welcomed by our helpful staff. Our main mission is to have a place for the community and this is shown by the devotion we put into every customer’s experience,” Anuradha explained. 

It is also launching a utility token called SLOT for in-game purchases.

Hong Kong-based startup Alphaslot has raised millions in a funding round led by China’s Sora Ventures as it seeks to build a blockchain-based gaming ecosystem and dive headfirst into a market that is expected to exceed US$130b by 2018.

“New technologies such as 3D and VR are widely applied in the industry, but the market remains frustrated in its efforts to develop new clientele. The rise of blockchain technology, however, will break these hurdles and usher the global entertainment gaming industry into a new interactive era,” Raymond Chan, CEO of Alphaslot said at the Global Digital Entertainment Summit 2018 in Macao.

With the vision of ‘tokenising’ casino gaming, Alphaslot aims to enable players to better manage their games and assets. Through distributed ledger technology, the startup significantly facilitates the gaming process through the speed, security and traceability of the tech.

Alphaslot will also be launching its own utility token called SLOT that can be used for in-game purchases to unlock new features or games. Users can also work on their personalised avatars.

“Alphaslot provides a brand-new solution while serving as the bridge that allows blockchain mutual support and transaction, effectively consolidating e-sports and all entertainment gaming venues, integrating the online virtual environment with the physical environment, creating a world of entertainment with 100 million participants annually,” Chan explained.

Although the startup is initially making a bet on the casino sector, Alphaslot aims to make its mark on the entire gaming market from social, esports to console gaming. The startup also aims to develop its own purpose-built blockchain protocol for data and token management as it looks to graduate from building on the Ethereum blockchain and the associated costs and on-chain storage demands.

Hong Kong’s Credito Capital and Shinobi Capital, Singapore’s Spartan Group, Netherland’s TRG, and Silicon Valley’s Primitive Ventures, also saw promise in the startup’s vision and participated in the funding round.

“Currently the blockchain technology is limited by the lack of interoperability, low TPS and small block size. Alphaslot provides a brand-new solution to solve these problems. Alphaslot is committed to building a bridge that connects different blockchain systems to create a closely connected gaming world,” added Chan.  

Funding proceeds will be used to launch its Ztore App.

Online shopping platform Ztore.com has raised over $62m (US$8m) in series B funding round led by Welight Capital and Kwai Hung Group in October to help fuel its bid to bring Hong Kong brands to the global stage. Founded in 2015, Ztore.com was able to make its mark through its unique vision of providing an online platform for local brands and SMEs.

By communicating the value of homegrown brands through innovative storytelling methods in their marketing campaigns, Ztore is able empower the 330,000 SMEs in the city that account for 98% of total enterprises.

With over 1,000 Hong Kong-based products to choose from, Ztore users have grown significantly to hit 200,000 within 24 months as residents acknowledge the merits of the platform’s premium product selection.

The startup will use the funding proceeds to launch Ztore App as well as a revamped website powered by a new algorithm that helps predict customer preferences to recommend the best products to buy. Ztore will also work on its in-house R&D to advance its warehouse and logistics management system.

“We will be able to advance our operating systems, develop new technologies to enhance the shopping platform, and launch new services. At the same time, we strive to lower our logistics costs and pass those savings along to customers to ensure they reap the benefits of shopping at Ztore.com,” said Danny Shum, co-founder and CEO of Ztore.com.

“We are a true believer in the team who delivers a better living to Hongkongers. We are very positive about the prospects of Hong Kong e-commerce, and are delighted to support Hong Kong startups with great potential such as Ztore,” said Free Wu Xiaoguang, co-founder of Welight Capital. 

It plays matchmaker to couples looking for wedding venues and vendors across Asia.

Bridezillas can turn into bride-chillas real quick with Hong Kong’s new start up Hitchbird.

Hitchbird is a new wedding portal that connects couples to various wedding venues and vendors across 53 cities in Asia. With convenience in mind, the startup provides a platform for couples to book and research wedding venues and find all the information they need to plan the perfect occasion—from the dreamy venue down to the bouquet provider.

“It’s kind of like a TripAdvisor of wedding—for couples to research wedding venues and vendors based on their wedding needs—often luxury or overseas locations,” said Hoi Cheung, founder of Hitchbird. “There hasn’t been a platform which focuses on luxury or destination weddings in Asia. There are many vertical platforms but these cater for mass populations.”

Cheung noted, however, that her startup is not exactly a wedding planning service, but more of a platform to help couples make their own plans. “We are not a wedding planner, we just know a lot about destination weddings and can point couples in the right direction,” he said. “The site also gives couples choice/options they might not have considered before.

For example, the homogenous wedding couples looking for a Phuket beach wedding is the same couple who might choose a chateau wedding in Bordeaux—just that they haven’t decided yet.”

In terms of the reception of the market with the company’s overarching goal of being the “trip advisor for weddings”, Cheung revealed that there’s a big market for wedding marketplaces. “Often couples want the dream, and just don’t know where to start,” Cheung said. “They also have budget concerns and Hitchbird steers them in the right direction.