Hong Kong Startup News Round Up - 6 Jan 2019

Jason Calacanis is coming to Asia for the first time! Learn how to invest with him!

WHub and AngelHub are excited to announce that the Founder of the world-renowned Angel University, Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor, Jason Calacanis is coming to Asia for the very first time to take part in WHub's Startup Impact Summit!

From humble, middle-class beginnings, Jason Calacanis has become one of Silicon Valley's most successful and vocal angel investors. Jason has invested in more than 150 companies, including four multi-billion dollar "unicorns" such as Uber.

A one-day workshop for individuals interested in becoming professional angel investors. The curriculum is designed for angels who have done 0 to 100 angel investments and focuses on five key topics: sourcing deals, evaluating startups, negotiating deals, portfolio and bankroll management, and post-deal efforts.

Exclusive discount: Use promocode "WHUBNL15" to get 15% discount!

Rookie Fund Student-run VC Announces Expansion to the Greater Bay Area

Rookie Fund, Asia’s first student-run venture capital fund, has announced its expansion into Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Rookie Fund (“The Fund”) aims to offer seed capital to scalable technology startups with a core member (owning more than 10% equity) that has graduated within the last five years. 

Under its expansion plan in the Greater Bay Area, the first batch of the Fund has recruited six Student Investment Partners in Hong Kong to be responsible for deal sourcing, evaluation and investment of a standard ticket size of USD 10,000. 

Prospective startups are required to showcase customer-proven product demonstrations. The application of funding is opening from January to June 2019. For details and applications, click here.

FlySpaces acquires HK-based office space marketplace Quikspaces

Philippines-based flexible office spaces online marketplace FlySpaces has announced that it has acquired its HK-based competitor Quikspaces.

Following the acquisition, the company’s founders and team will join FlySpaces and its Hong Kong operations.

Through this deal, FlySpaces will gain 1,200 additional office listings to its marketplace. The platform allows customers to search, book and pay for over 3,000 office listings in Southeast Asia online.

“This was a natural fit since Quikspaces will benefit from the large-scale operations and technology that FlySpaces provides, helping accelerate our growth within Hong Kong.” said Eunice, CEO of Quikspaces.

HK's clothing rental startups help save money & space

Take a look at all the clothing rental startups in Hong Kong helping save money and solving problems such as lack of space.

Yeechoo, introduced Hong Kong to the idea of an online “shared wardrode” in 2014. The business allows customers to rent dresses from 200+ designers for as little as one-fifth to one-tenth of the retail prices. Yeechoo is now a fast-growing startup with more than 30,000 users.

Prêt-à-Dress, established this year, is the latest player in the market. The rental fee is set at 10-20% of the retail price. Most items in the collection are dresses by famous designers and the collection is renewed from time to time.

Wardrobista, a wardrobe sharing and clothing rental platform, started in February last year. Established on the basis of a “shop less, rent more” belief, Wardrobista has a mission to make the local fashion industry more sustainable by promoting the concept of sharing under-utilised dresses and bags.

Why India is Not the First Destination of Choice in Asia for International Startups

For international growth-stage startups, Asia is a north star market, but India is not their first destination of choice. For decades it has been China and now it’s the South East Asian countries, the favourite being Indonesia.

It would come as a surprise to many that India is WhatsApp’s biggest market. India is also Uber’s biggest market outside of the US. Since demonetisation, blue collared workers, including housemaids, are now paid through bank transfers and all use WhatsApp for communication.