Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival 2025 main conference concludes on high note as citywide innovation events continue (with photos)
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The two-day main conference ran November 3 and 4, and brought together government officials, regulators, fintech innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders from around the world for a series of forward-looking panels, keynote speeches and policy discussions. This year marks the 10th anniversary of both Hong Kong FinTech Week and the StartmeupHK Festival, held together for the first time, a testament to Hong Kong's commitment to advancing the digital economy and strengthening its position as a global centre for fintech and start-up growth.
The week-long events will continue through to November 7, featuring a wide range of community and partner functions held citywide. The week is expected to welcome over 37 000 participants from over 100 economies to the city, including some 800 distinguished speakers, over 700 exhibitors and more than 30 Mainland and international delegations.
Celebrating a decade of innovation and scaling
The two-day main conference was organised by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission and the Insurance Authority, with Finoverse as the appointed event organiser.
The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, officiated at the opening of the main conference, emphasising Hong Kong's strength as a bridge between innovation and collaboration in his speech. Mr Lee remarked, "Hong Kong is made for collaboration and built for innovation - for companies, entrepreneurs, investors and professionals."
Mr Lee said that in this year's World Investment Report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Hong Kong moved up to third place overall in foreign direct investment inflows. He also highlighted Hong Kong's fundraising achievements at initial public offerings this year, which underlined the city's revitalised status as the world's premier listing and capital-raising venue.
"These and other international kudos reflect Hong Kong's status as a 'super connector' and 'super value-adder'. We help to link the markets from China, our country, with those around the globe. We help start-ups go from local prototypes to global success," said Mr Lee.
The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, joined a panel discussion alongside the Director-General of Investment Promotion of InvestHK, Ms Alpha Lau; Group Chief Executive of HSBC, Mr Georges Elhedery; and Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, Mr Bill Winters.
Mr Chan opened the panel discussion by sharing insights on Hong Kong's strategic vision for financial innovation, emphasising the vast potential of digitalisation as well as the role of the city's regulators in enabling this. "As we mark the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong FinTech Week and the StartmeupHK Festival, we're celebrating a decade of impact, ambition and bold ideas. These two signature events have brought together visionary entrepreneurs, global investors, policymakers, and industry pioneers from around the world - all united by a shared belief: that technology can make finance more inclusive, more efficient and more human", he said.
Resilient and thriving start-up ecosystem
During his keynote on day two, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, highlighted the sheer pace of growth in Hong Kong's start-up ecosystem, which has over the past decade nearly tripled to 4 700 as of last year with a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent.
Mr Yau zoomed in on Hong Kong's start-up ecosystem today, noting that it is not only a hub for financial innovation, but also a launch pad for breakthroughs of all innovation sectors, covering edutech, e-commerce, logistics technology, robotics, data analytics, greentech, etc. "The city's entrepreneurial spirit, global connectivity and cross-border synergies make it a fertile ground for innovative ideas to grow and industries to transform," he said.
Mr Yau also outlined government measures to support the continued growth of start-ups. "On intellectual property (IP), we will assist innovative companies in leveraging IPs for financing to enhance the IP trade ecosystem. This includes launching an IP financing sandbox pilot project, providing patent evaluation for companies, etc.
"There are also other supportive measures in place, such as the enhanced Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement agreement, the new company re-domiciliation regime, various SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) funding schemes, as well as tax concessions."
The second day also witnessed the grand finale of the flagship Global Fast Track 2025 pitching competition. Now in its eighth edition, the competition attracted over 700 applicants from 70 economies, culminating in an in-person final pitch at the main conference where entrepreneurs presented their solutions to investors, regulators and corporate partners. United States-based Speratum Biopharma Inc was crowned the winner of the International Category, while First Quadrant was the winner of the Chinese Mainland Category.
The integration of the StartmeupHK Festival with Hong Kong FinTech Week this year created a single mega platform for entrepreneurs and investors to connect. Start-ups across Asia, the Chinese Mainland, Europe and the Middle East joined pitching sessions, venture showcases and ecosystem dialogues, enabling direct engagement with global venture capital and corporate innovation teams.
Global executives descend on Hong Kong
The main conference featured 11 themed forums, spanning topics from AI & Advanced Tech Forum, Digital Assets Forum, HealthTech Forum to China-Global Innovation Forum. Headline speakers spanned global leaders from technology to finance and beyond:
- The Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, Mr Bill Winters;
- The Head of Technology and Innovation in Financial Services at the World Economic Forum, Ms Drew Propson;
- The Chairman of Ant Group, Mr Eric Jing;
- The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 3C AGI Partners, Ms Esther Wong;
- The Corporate Vice President, Head of Tencent Financial Technology, Tencent, Mr Forest Lin;
- Nobel Laureate in Physics, Professor Emeritus of the University of Toronto, Mr Geoffrey Hinton;
- The Group Chief Executive of HSBC, Mr Georges Elhedery;
- The President and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Templeton, Ms Jenny Johnson;
- The President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Mr Jin Liqun; and
- Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, Mr Lu Lei.
Their participation underscored Hong Kong's unique role as a global meeting point for technology, finance and entrepreneurism.
Momentum continues
While the main conference has successfully wrapped up, HKFW x SMUF 2025 continues across the city through to November 7, set to draw more participants attending network programmes, community events and innovation showcases, bringing together global start-up, fintech and investor communities.
Events include the AWS VC Day, the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum 2025, IPEM Asia, the RWA: Onboard Summit and many more. The full list of official events can be found here.
Ends/Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Issued at HKT 19:55
Issued at HKT 19:55
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