As a major business hub in the traditional economy HK punches well above its weight. As a startup ecosystem it's raising fast but still in the making. Today we explore this
One question. Which are the most well-known companies that have emerged from the Hong Kong start-up ecosystem? Do you have the numbers in terms of unicorns?
Also, in terms of names, perhaps the most well known ones are:
Lalamove (logistics)
Klook (Tourism)
GogoX (logistics)
Hashkey (Digital assets)
WeLab (FinTech)
Interestingly, DJI the drone manufacturer was actually founded in HK and afterwards moved to Shenzhen to leverage the production capabilities in Shenzhen.
Thanks! Really good question. I plan on talking about unicorns in future posts and so I focused on other areas but its true that I should have given at least some numbers.
The thing with unicorns is that because that "badge" is based on being private and having a valuation of 1 billion USD or more, some lists still count a company as a unicorn even after they go public or after they valuation drops back below 1 billion (while other lists don't). Having a very accurate list of how many companies fulfill both criteria at any given moment in time is a bit hard and so the lists can vary and that makes it difficult to compare ecosystems.
Having said that, in a recent report published earlier this year, Our Hong Kong Foundation (a local Think Tank) identified that despite Hong Kong's favourable business environment, there is an insufficient number of local unicorns Vs its peers (only 18 in Hong Kong while Beijing has 91, Shanghai 71, and Shenzhen 32).
To have 18 unicorns can look like not much in this context but in comparison with many European Ecosystems its not bad at all. For example, Hong Kong's economy is roughly the same size as Portugal's. And in their case, based in AICEP data Portugal currently only has 3 unicorns and only 8 companies have ever reached unicorn status at some point. So the key here is context in order to determine if a number is a lot or is little.
Its a fascinating topic and a tricky one to pinpoint and so that's why it will require a monographic but I realise I should have at least mentioned the topic.
Alfonso,
One question. Which are the most well-known companies that have emerged from the Hong Kong start-up ecosystem? Do you have the numbers in terms of unicorns?
Also, in terms of names, perhaps the most well known ones are:
Lalamove (logistics)
Klook (Tourism)
GogoX (logistics)
Hashkey (Digital assets)
WeLab (FinTech)
Interestingly, DJI the drone manufacturer was actually founded in HK and afterwards moved to Shenzhen to leverage the production capabilities in Shenzhen.
Hi Inigo,
Thanks! Really good question. I plan on talking about unicorns in future posts and so I focused on other areas but its true that I should have given at least some numbers.
The thing with unicorns is that because that "badge" is based on being private and having a valuation of 1 billion USD or more, some lists still count a company as a unicorn even after they go public or after they valuation drops back below 1 billion (while other lists don't). Having a very accurate list of how many companies fulfill both criteria at any given moment in time is a bit hard and so the lists can vary and that makes it difficult to compare ecosystems.
Having said that, in a recent report published earlier this year, Our Hong Kong Foundation (a local Think Tank) identified that despite Hong Kong's favourable business environment, there is an insufficient number of local unicorns Vs its peers (only 18 in Hong Kong while Beijing has 91, Shanghai 71, and Shenzhen 32).
To have 18 unicorns can look like not much in this context but in comparison with many European Ecosystems its not bad at all. For example, Hong Kong's economy is roughly the same size as Portugal's. And in their case, based in AICEP data Portugal currently only has 3 unicorns and only 8 companies have ever reached unicorn status at some point. So the key here is context in order to determine if a number is a lot or is little.
Its a fascinating topic and a tricky one to pinpoint and so that's why it will require a monographic but I realise I should have at least mentioned the topic.
Thanks a lot for the comment!
18 unicorns sounds quite good to me! Please keep going wit the series. They are a fascinating read.
Thanks a lot, Inigo!