AMTD Group hosted the second Start-up Express Pitching Final jointly with HKTDC and Our Hong Kong Foundation

2Fri May 17th - Organized by HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade Development Council), together with Our Hong Kong Foundation as its Official Partner, and AMTD Group as the sole Strategic Partner, the second Start-up Express Pitching Final was held successfully today at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. Our Chairman and CEO, Calvin Choi, who is also the Vice Chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Fund, Founder and Chairman of Greater Bay Young Entrepreneurs Association, was invited to be one of the panel judges, and selected the 10 finalists from 20 semi-finalists, which originally started with 160+ applicants. In the coming months, AMTD Group will work closely with HKTDC and Our Hong Kong Foundation to support the continuous development of these 10 winners, supporting them through a series of capability building, mentoring sessions and marketing activities in the Greater Bay Area and overseas.

Penal judges with the finalists from the second Start-up Express Pitching Final 

 

Start-up Express is organized by the HongKong Trade Development Council, targeting Hong Kong talents behind start-up companies with innovative and unique products or services looking to expand into mainland China and/or Asian markets.

Through a series of training workshops, mentor power-up meetings, and marketing activities, the programme is hoping to create a platform for corporations to learn from each other and assisting these local start-ups to grow into the global arena.

Our Hong Kong Foundation, initiated by the Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Tung Chee-Hwa, aims to bring together elites from Hong Kong, Mainland and globally to provide the Hong Kong Government, public service organizations and the general public with research, analysis and recommendations to public policies, with an aim to promote social harmony, economic prosperity and sustainable development that will benefit Hong Kong in the long run.

Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group, with other panel judges

 

As a panel judge to this Start-up Express Pitching Final, Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group, Vice Chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Fund, Founder and Chairman of Greater Bay Young Entrepreneurs Association (GBYEA), indicated that: “As a Hong Kong home-grown financial conglomerate providing full range services in the investment banking, venture capital investment, asset management, and insurance brokerage verticals, AMTD Group serves as a “Super-connector” supporting HongKong’s technological innovations and economic developments. With our uniquely positioned ‘AMTD SpiderNet’, and leveraging our strong experience in the global capital markets and extensive network of resources, we can support and empower more local start-ups and talent developments, and contribute to making HongKong a smart city and a global innovation hub.”

Other panel judges include Duncan Chiu, Co-founder and Managing Director of Radiant Venture Capital; Prof Guanhua Chen, Co-founder of Hong Kong X-Tech Startup Platform; Jason Chiu, CEO of Cherrypicks; Jimmy Tao Managing Director and CEO of Vitargent (International) Biotechnology Limited.  These judges, along with Dr. Bernard Chan, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, as well as Stephen Liang, Assistant Executive Director of HKTDC, witnessed the making of the 10 winners, which includes MedEXO Robotics (HongKong) Company Limited, Contact Beverage Limited, CYC Motor Limited, Quikec International Limited, ARTRO Digital Limited, RaSpect Intelligence Inspection Limited, Affluent Growth & Innovation Technology Limited, Doki Technologies Limited, Incus Company Limited and Miscato Limited.

From left: Stephen Liang, Assistant Executive Director of HKTDC; Jimmy Tao, Managing Director and CEO of Vitargent (International) Biotechnology Limited; Jason Chiu, CEO of Cherrypicks;  Dr. Bernard Chan, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development; Duncan Chiu, Co-founder and Managing Director of Radiant Venture Capital; Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group; Joseph Yau, Executive Director of AMTD SpiderNet & Alliance of AMTD Group

 

Earlier this month, AMTD Group and Xiaomi Corporation announced their jointly established entity, Insight Fintech,successfully secured a virtual banking license granted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (the “HKMA”), and further expands and completes the suite of services AMTD provides, including investment banking, retail banking, risk management, asset management, and insurance brokerage. AMTD Group has in many occasions collaborated with InvestHK and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to host influential tech conferences such as the Hong Kong Fintech Week and the Singapore Fintech Festival.  In Jan 2019, during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, AMTD Group, along with the Hong Kong Government and the Guangzhou Government, witnessed the establishment of the Greater Bay YoungEntrepreneurs Association (GBYEA).  Other co-founders of the GBYEA include Farseer, which is also a winner from the Start-up Express Pitching Final in 2018. In the fintech sector, AMTD, together with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, IFC, and ASEAN Bankers Association, established the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN); partnered with Dianrong and incubated the Hong Kong fintech start up FinEX Asia; and strategically invested into innovative companies such as Royole Corporation, the global leading flexible display, flexible sensing, virtual reality display and related intelligent equipment manufacturer; AwanTunai, an Indonesia fintech platform; DayDayCook, China's largest cooking and lifestyle media brand.  In an effort to cultivate and develop talents with a global and innovative vision for the Greater Bay Area, AMTD Group also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to jointly build the first school-enterprise collaboration financial technology center in Hong Kong, the AMTD FinTech Centre of PolyU Faculty of Business, as well as rolling out the“AMTD x UWaterlooo Global Talent Programme”.

"AMTD Hub" at the central part of the exhibition area in 2018 Hong Kong Fintech Week