5 in 5 minutes - June 24th

1. Hong Kong: Highly diverse ecosystem with highly wired population

Although the Hong Kong startup ecosystem is still relatively young, it is one of the top 5 fastest growing startup ecosystem worldwide. Hong Kong has a very diverse ecosystem, with around 50% of startup founders being local and the other half from overseas. And Hong Kong startups are disrupting all sectors and industries, from e-commerce and logistics to real estate and EduTech.

Moreover, the Hong Kong population is also known for being highly wired. Around 50% of the Hong Kong population use Facebook and 96% of smartphone owner browse the Internet daily. According to the latest GfK Connected Consumer Index, Hong Kong has the fastest internet speed.

Want to know more about the Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem?

2. VRTech raises $5 million to fund Asian virtual reality startups

Georgiy Tushinsky, founder of Digital October and Igor Luts, founder of BBDO Moscow & co-founder of The Untitled fund teamed up to launch a $5 million venture fund to help virtual reality projects.

3. Ngau Tau Kok fire: concerns about lax safety standards

The industrial building at Ngau Tau Kok is still burning after more than 40 hours, authorities address renewed concerns about loose safety standards. The building is an industrial building which had been transformed into mini-storage facilities. Secretary of Security announced a citywide inspection of all mini-storage facilities. The bureau will how fire safety standard can be strengthened.

Former fire service chief Lam Chun-man said another problem with mini-storage facilities was that no one knew what was stored inside the unit.

4. This China startup expands with an acquisition

Tujia, the Airbnb of China, just announced it would acquire Mayi Duanzu, an accommodation platform targeting families travelling within China. According to Luo, Jun, founder and CEO of Tujia, the two company will still be run independently in the future. Tujia raised US$300M last year and is currently valued at US$1 billion.

5. Trinity and Microsoft Ventures lead $17.5 million investments to help sales business communication

Outreach, a sales acceleration platform announced recently that it closed $17.5 million in Series B funding in a round led by Trinity Venture with participation from Microsoft Ventures and previous investors. The funds with be used to build up the marketing and entreprise sales teams and they will continue investing in the product.