Speech by SCED at Hong Kong Fintech Week x StartmeupHK Festival 2025 (English only)
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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today.
The StartmeupHK is an initiative which aims at helping founders of innovative and scalable start-ups from outside Hong Kong to set up or expand here. Through this initiative, Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) offers information about our start-up ecosystem, connects people to the start-up community, and fosters a positive environment for start-ups to thrive.
Start-ups are an important part of any economy. Behind every start-up, there must be an innovative business idea. These new ideas call for changes and refresh our economy. And Hong Kong is just the right place not only for start-ups to be created, but also for them to grow and scale. Apart from the favourable business environment in Hong Kong, the start-ups here are supported by a strong network of incubators and accelerators, a pool of experienced angels and venture capitalists, a host of government-backed programmes and a welcoming business community.
Attracting and grooming start-ups are an important aspect of InvestHK's work. And it has done a great job. The number of start-ups in Hong Kong has nearly tripled, from about 1 600 start-ups 10 years ago to around 4 700 last year. The impressive expansion is a result of the pro-startup measures taken by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government over the years.
While it is common for start-ups to be set up by local people, it is worth noting that 28 per cent of the founders of our start-ups are from outside Hong Kong. This is obviously a testament to Hong Kong's appeal as Asia Pacific's top destination for start-up investment and a start-up talent magnet. Going forward, we will continue to focus on assisting high potential unicorns and scale-ups worldwide across various sectors to grow.
This year, the StartmeupHK initiative has evolved by collaborating with Hong Kong FinTech Week, under the theme "Curating the New Fintech Era". Building on the success in the past, the 2025 edition highlights the growing convergence of fintech with other frontier technologies - artificial intelligence (AI), greentech, healthtech, and Web3 - which are increasingly deployed as part of comprehensive tech start-up solutions. The Festival offers a unique opportunity to engage with the fintech ecosystem and reinforces Hong Kong's position as a hub for scalable start-ups and cross-border innovation.
To bring this theme to life, we will expand the main conference from eight to 11 fora, introducing new sessions like "Healthtech & Insurtech" and the "China‑Global Innovation Forum". We will also cover wider cross-sector themes such as "Blockchain & Web3" and "Digital Finance". These fora will address important global issues including asset tokenisation, responsible AI, and the growing convergence of healthtech and insurtech. Besides, there will be a new "TechX Forum" to explore how emerging technologies are moving from experimentation to large-scale deployment. These additions encourage earlier practical conversations between founders, regulators, and corporates, helping start-ups move faster from pilot projects to full production.
InvestHK's Global Fast Track 2025 programme has also grown to include seven verticals, adding "Innovation & Technology" to expand beyond fintech. This reflects the increasing overlap of technology across multiple industries. The year-long hybrid programme provides participants with one-on-one meetings, live pitching opportunities, mentorship, and tailored business matching with corporate clients, investors and service providers. I strongly recommend that the global start-up community joins this programme to assist your start-ups in scaling up by leveraging Hong Kong's advantages.
Looking ahead, with the StartmeupHK Festival at the heart of this partnership, we are not just celebrating success - together, we are shaping Hong Kong's future of innovation.
We look forward to welcoming the global start-up community to join us this November. Please come to Hong Kong to connect, to build and to scale. I am sure that you will always find unlimited business opportunities in our city, your ideal destination for business and investment.
Thank you.
Ends/Friday, October 17, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:35
Issued at HKT 15:35
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