Asia's first Elevator World Tour culminates with Hong Kong-based start-up taking home US$120,000 in investment

(Hong Kong, 19 October 2016) - Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (“HKSTP”), in partnership with STARTUPFEST, concluded the first Asia stop of the Elevator World Tour™ on 13 October at Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper, the International Commerce Centre (“ICC”). Unfazed by height and the three rounds of competitive pitching, Orii, a wireless audible solutions start-up from Hong Kong was chosen the winner by a panel of 12 professional investors and took away US$120K investment funding to develop the presented ideas into a full-fledged business.

The success of the event in Hong Kong, as well as the city’s start-ups in the competition, can be attributed both to the unique and vibrant local tech ecosystem and the diversity and quality of the home-grown start-up projects. In the competition where 90 per cent of the participating start-ups were from Hong Kong, the contestant composition was extremely diverse, from software and hardware, robotics, IoT, big data, to materials, wearables, biotech and fintech.

Attending guests from around the world also witnessed again the unique edges of Hong Kong as a scale-up hub for young technology companies to grow its business. Through the stories of the incubation journey of the contestants, Hong Kong has proved itself again as a city with rich talent and resources across various aspects that are essential to business development. Everything from tech developers to logistics experts can easily be found locally, coupled with the comprehensive support from the public and private sectors, as well as its ease-of-access to the Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub.

Hong Kong is the ideal scale-up hub for technology start-ups

At the event, Phillipe Telio, Founder and President, STARTUPFEST, said: “Looking at the city through the eyes of an outsider, I see Hong Kong as a city that is perfect for a wide variety of tech start-ups to launch their breakout product or to grow their business. Judging from what I have seen throughout this event, the applicants and contestants today, Hong Kong start-ups have what it takes to compete on the global level. Hong Kong has unique advantages such as its close ties with China, logistics capacity, as well as easy access to funds and investors, making it an ideal hub for start-ups to scale up their operations for the long run. Hong Kong has a bright future ahead of it as a ‘scale-up’ hub – a place where start-ups come to grow beyond the seed stage. I am excited about its prospects.”

Andrew Young, Chief Commercial Officer, HKSTP, commented: “The Elevator World Tour has provided a great opportunity for budding local start-ups to have a taste of pitch presentations. We are very pleased at the success of the event and hope the event could inspire more people, in particularly those who are on the fence, to join the tech scene and find their success with us. HKSTP and the HKSAR Government provide myriad support that start-ups will find useful as they look for a helping hand to transform their napkin sketch into a business. Hong Kong would make a proper home for any technology start-up – if you’re working on a start-up idea, consider calling Hong Kong home,”

Elevator World Tours are pitching competitions organised around the world in the best cities for start-ups, with an aim to connect the best start-ups with interested investors. The Asia-first Elevator World Tour in Hong Kong was co-organised by STARTUPFEST and HKSTP.  The event received over 400 applications. 90 per cent of the participants were from Hong Kong while non-local contestants competing in the event included teams from Taiwan, mainland China, United States, Canada and France.