Hong Kong’s startup sector is thriving with a 24 per cent year-on-year increase in ventures.
Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) this week released the results of its 2016 start-up survey, which saw 1926 start-ups engaged in various tech sectors and operating at different co-work space, incubator or accelerator locations across Hong Kong. Of those, 249 were involved in eCommerce or supporting logistics sector – double the number of a year earlier.
The results of the survey were released as the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Gregory So, hosted a launch reception with the startup community to unveil InvestHK’s flagship 2017 StartmeupHK Festival, scheduled for January 16 to 20, 2017 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai and PMQ in Central.
The survey was carried out by InvestHK in collaboration with 38 co-work space, incubation and acceleration program operators, who gave information on the profile of their users or participants.  
The companies were engaged in different businesses including information, computer and technology (401 startups in 2016 vs 273 in 2015); e-commerce, supply chain management and logistics technology (249 vs 142); professional or consultancy services (180 vs 137); design (158 vs 124); and Fintech (138 vs 86).
Among the Fintech start-ups, engaged subsectors included financial software and services, algorithmic trading and algorithm-based portfolio management, payment, wealth management, lending and crowdfunding, cybersecurity and anti-fraud services, crypto-currency and blockchain, insurance, and currency, remittance and foreign exchange.
In his opening address at the reception, So talked about the survey results and said that Hong Kong has the community, resources and opportunities to turn great ideas into reality, as demonstrated in the synergy and growth in its start-up ecosystem.
“With the 2017 StartmeupHK Festival all set to kick off, things are about to get even better. The week-long program offers a range of activities taking place at multiple venues, and we expect thousands of participants coming from the local and overseas start-up communities.”
The acting director-general of investment promotion, Charles Ng, said it is encouraging to see the number of founders in Hong Kong rising by such a magnitude.
“It shows that innovative founders aspiring for the global markets choose Hong Kong as their base to scale up. As Hong Kong continues to develop our start-up ecosystem and encourage different technology trends, and given our unrivalled location at the gateway to the massive Mainland market, we are optimistic that global founders will continue to invest in and grow their business from our city.”