Hong Kong Startup News Round up - December 1

Click here to view that latest Hong Kong Startup News Round Up - Dec 08, 2017

Hong Kong's Hendale Capital invests in Vietnam's Vntrip

Hong Kong-based Hendale Capital invested an undisclosed amount of funding in Vntrip, a Vietnamese online travel agency. Vntrip is Hendale Captial's first startup in the Southeast Asia portfolio. Hendale Captial has invested in 5 companiesraised provides initial investment between US$5-20 million for late-stage startups.

HKMA launches the supervisory chatroom

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the FinTech Supervisory Chatroom on November 28, 2017 as a new feature of the FinTech Supervisory Sandbox 2.0.

The Supervisory Chatroom allows feedback exchange between authorised institutions (AIs) and technology firms at an early stage. Firms will have access to both the Fintech Facilitation Office and the Banking Departments of the HKMA through the Chatroom.

Firms can send enquiries to HKMA through emails and get supervisory feedback within 7 working days. Video conferences and face-to-face meetings are also available with prior reservation.

For more information about the Sandbox, check out Hong Kong FinTech Ecosystem Toolbox 2017.

WeChat Pay introduces mobile payment service with MTR

Tencent's WeChar Pay mobile payment service will be available for commuters of the MTR soon as it has signed an agreement with the MTR Corporation. Commuters can use WeChat Pay HK to purchase MTR tickets in the future.

WeWork buys Meetup for US$200M

WeWork, the co-working space operator has bought Meetup for about US$200 million, terms of the deal were not announced.

Meetup has raised US$18 million from DFJ, Union Square Ventures, and Allen & Co prior. While WeWork has raised over US$8 billion in funding to date with a US$20 billion valuation.

#EventRecap: Hong Kong entrepreneurs gather to share legal tips

Checklist for Entrepreneur - Is your business Legal ready?

At Limebridge’s event on 29 November, Vivek Mohindra Co-founder of Kristal.ai and Jeffrey Liu, CCO of Snapask provided the audience with a checklist for entrepreneurs to help them avoid any legal hurdles.  Legal pros from Stephenson Harwood, including Jonathan Chu, Katherine Liu, and Sherman Wong, were on hand to provide their expert opinions.  

Below are some tips for startups who are navigating the legalities of their business.

Be market ready and product ready first before paying for lawyers: When you are first starting up, there are other priorities to tackle first on a limited budget.   Take advantage of free templates from the Internet, but be warned - not all contracts are created equal. If you are taking contracts from the Internet make sure all the content is relevant to your business.  

Make sure you have covered the basics: Partnership or shareholders agreements, employment contracts, data protection and collection statements.  NDAs may be useful for your business, but remember - unless your project is completely novel, executing your ideas may more important than trying to closely protect it from others.  

Trademark your branding from day one: You have worked hard on creating branding to differentiate you from the competition, so protect it!

Need more legal guidance?  Check out legal service available at Stephenson Harwood and other startup resources available here at WHub!