18 Hong Kong startups to watch in 2018 (Part 2)
2018 is almost upon us, it is the time to sum up the year. Investors are betting on more Hong Kong startups in 2017 in comparison to the year prior. While FinTech startups have raised a significant amount of funding in 2017, startups from other sectors including logistics, e-commerce, travel and hardware are also showing promising future. Let’s continue on with our list of 18 startups to watch in 2018.
Miss our first part? Click here to read on.
GoGoVan
Founded in 2013 by Steven Lam Hoi-yuen, Nick Tang Kuen-wai, and Reeve Kwan Chun-man, GoGoVan is a marketplace that pairs up van drivers and customers for delivery services. The startup announced its merger with China’s 58 Suyun in August 2017 and claimed that the merged company would be valued at over US$1 billion.
Before the merger, GoGoVan has over 180,000 registered drivers within its network in 14 cities across 6 countries. While the Alibaba-backed 58 Suyun has entered 100 cities in China.
The merged company will call 58 Suyun in China and GoGoVan overseas. The startup plans to expand its service to 200 more Chinese cities, with plans to go big in Southeast Asia in mind.
Klook
Founded in 2014 by Eric Gnock Fah and Ethan Lin, Klook develops an in-destination services booking platform. It has raised close to US$60 million in a Series C round in October this year.
Klook has gathered US$96.5 million to date from investors including Sequoia China, Goldman Sachs, Matrix Partners and Welight Capital. Klook’s service is available in 7 languages and offers close to 30,000 activities in over 120 destinations. The travel tech startup plans to expand to North America, Europe and Australia.
Klook also plans to expand its team in Hong Kong, its headquarter, and has a plan to launch a Management Trainee program.
(Also click here to see our Interview with Eric Gnock Fah)
Lalamove
Lalamove is another well-known logistics startup that connects users with drivers for delivery services. Previously named as EasyVan, Lalamove has raised US$100 million in Series C in October 2017. To date, Lalamove has raised US$160 million in 5 rounds from investors including ShunWei Capital, MindWorks Ventures and Aria Group.
Lalamove is operating in over 100 cities in Southeast Asia with over 15 million users. The logistics startup plans to expand in its existing markets like Malaysia and Indonesia. (They are hiring! Click here to learn more)
MioTech
MioTech develops an AI-powered investment management platform for financial institutions. The startup has closed a US$7 million Series A round led by Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures with ZhenFund’s participation. The fresh capital will be used in team expansion as well as technology development. The FinTech startup also eyes on reaching the mainland China and Singapore market in 2018.
By integrating and analyzing data from different sources, MioTech helps streamline the investment process and enables users to make data-driven investment decisions. MioTech is one of the few Chinese tech companies in Horizons Ventures’ portfolio as the firm usually focuses on high-profile companies overseas, like Spotify and Razer. The FinTech startup works with Silverhorn Investment Advisors.
Oddup
Founded in 2015 by a strong research and advisory team formerly from Goldman Sachs, Oddup offers insights in startup investing by providing data and analysis on its online research platform. Oddup has raised US$6 million in Series A in April 2017. The startup has gathered US$7 million in 2 rounds from investors including The Times Group, 500 Startups, Click Ventures, Moneta Ventures, White Capital etc.
With India’s The Times Group on board as a key strategic partner, the startup has launched its service in India in July 2017, offering insights into major startup hubs Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi.
To date, Oddup covers ecosystem data in 16 cities in 10 countries in the Asia Pacific region, giving insights on trends, current and expected future valuations of startups to its users. The startup claims to have over 50,000 users on the platform. (They are hiring! Click here to learn more)
Prenetics
Started as a research department at one of the universities in Hong Kong, Prenetics spun off in 2009 to offer genetic tests to help people identify health risks. The startup has gathered US$40 million in Series B in October 2017 from investors including new investors like Beyond Ventures and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.
Prenetics has bagged over US$50 million in 2 rounds as it has also secured US$10 million in Series A from Ping An Ventures, Venturra Capital, 500 Startups and Coent Venture Partners in 2016.
Other than offering genetic tests to identify potential health risk, the startup also offers DNA screening service for people trying to have kids. The startup also partners up with major insurance companies like Prudential and AIA to provide genetic tests to policyholders. The startup is powered by a 100+ man team, Prenetics claims to gave processed 200,000 DNA samples and is available in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
Honorable mentions:
Ambi Climate
Founded in 2012 by Julian Lee, Paul Sykes and Tim Chang, Ambi Labs offers air conditioning experience with its IoT device Ambi Climate, which adjusts air conditioner according to weather changes.
The IoT startup launched an Indiegogo campaign earlier this year and raised over US$156,000.
LYNK
Founded in 2013 by Peggy Choi, LYNK (previously The Straits Network) connects enterprise users with experts. It has raised US$4 million in Series A from Hong Leong financial group, Cyberport, Zhuhai Da Heng Qin, and CRE Venture Capital and Wavemaker Partners. Wavemaker Partners also participated in the seed round.
Lynk claims to have over 50,000 experts, including C-level executives, engineers and consultants in their network. The startup offers various types of package, allowing users to engage with experts in different formats, from a Q&A session to multi-month projects.
Lynk’s service is available in over 14 languages, with its team based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai.
Origami Labs
Founded in 2015, Origami Labs creates wearable that puts your voice assistant on your finger. The startup is known for its first product, namely ORii, a multifunctional communication smart ring.
Origami Labs launched a Kickstarter campaign in July 2017 and has pledged its fundraising goal of US$30,000 in less than 12 hours. ORii raised over US$50,000 through the campaign within 36 hours. Through the Kickstarter campaign, Origami Labs has received support from over 2,000 backers and raised over US$333,000.
Prior to the Kickstarter campaign, Origami Labs has participated in ReadWrite Labs’s accelerator programme (formerly Wearable IoT World). The startup has also won HKSTP’s Elevator World Tour in October 2016 and took home US$120,000 grand prize. Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneur Fund took on Origami Labs as one of its investees in October 2017 together with Gobee.bike, CompareAsiaGroup and Prenetics.
