Hong Kong to launch US$637 mln tech fund for startups: report
Hong Kong will launch a HK$5 billion (US$637 million) fund to support startups seeking to reach unicorn status, the city’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said.
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Fast facts
The government hopes to use the Strategic Tech Fund to fill the gaps between Series A and B startup financing and persuade investors to back Hong Kong tech entrepreneurs, Chan said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
The tech fund was first brought up in Hong Kong’s yearly budget speech in February, as a part of the HK$22.4 billion investment vehicle “Hong Kong Growth Portfolio.”
The Hong Kong Growth Portfolio is a fund with similarities to Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with aims to enhance fields such as financial services and innovation, and is part of a “Future Fund” established by the local government in 2015 with an allocation of over HK$200 billion.
Hong Kong is home to over 600 FinTech companies, with 7% of them in the blockchain sector, according to local government data.
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