Bangalore headquartered IoT (Internet of Things) semiconductor startup Wifinity was chosen as one of the three winners of 2013 StartmeupHK Venture Programme, the first global start-up contest designed and staged by Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK). InvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government established in July 2000 to take responsibility for Foreign Direct Investment and support overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong.
After two final rounds of judging at the Conference Hall of Central Government Offices at Tamar, D’Arcy Polychrome Ltd, Hanson Robotics and Wifinity Ltd beat nine other finalists to win the Grand Awards and receive prizes worth around HK$2 million in the form of free professional services and work space for one year provided by eight corporate sponsors. Bangalore based medical devices company and YourStory Sociopreneurship 2010 winner Forus was one of the finalists.
Wifinity provides the enterprise sector with customer intelligence solutions that enable Energy Management, Physical Security and Industrial/ Manufacturing execution systems. D’Arcy Polychrome has developed a process called Drikolor, which delivers colour through dry granulated pigments that are mixed into base paints at point of use or point of sale. Hanson Robotics develops and manufactures bio-inspired technologies for human-like robots, integrating nano-tech Frubber for naturalistic skin, aesthetically sophisticated expressive mechanisms, and neuro-inspired artificial intelligence.
The StartmeupHK Venture Programme 2013 is the first by InvestHK and aims to raise awareness of Hong Kong’s potential as one of Asia’s leading hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. The global competition launched on July 9 and 384 ventures from 39 countries and cities had applied by the close of the application period on August 27.
The Director-General of Investment Promotion, Mr Simon Galpin said he was happy to see the successful conclusion of the 2013 Venture Programme, and said, “The strong response to the competition reflects the fact that entrepreneurs are increasingly seeing Hong Kong as an important startup hub in Asia. We hope to make the competition an annual event to pull together the public and private sectors in the start-up community.”
The panel of judges included the Executive Chairman of Golien Ltd, Mr Max Burger; the Chief Strategist Officer of Schneider Electric, Ms Carina Ho; Co-Chairman, Venture Committee, Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, Mr Marvin Lai; the Vice-President of Asia Pacific, China and Japan Strategy and Business Development at IMS Health, Mr Andy Liu; the Executive Director and Group Chief Financial and Operating Officer of MF Jebsen Group, Mr Alvin Miu; the Publisher and CEO of WealthAsia Group, Ms Elsa Pau; the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Outblaze, Mr Yat Siu; and the Chief Representative, China, Silicon Valley Bank, Mr Mike Yahng.