5 in 5 minutes - June 30th

VivaTech 2017 is back to Paris with its tech conference

The Viva Technology Conference 2017, an exciting Global event centred around innovation, took place from June 15th to 17th in Paris. It has built on the tremendous success of the first event last year. VivaTech brought all the biggest names in the world of tech together again this year. 

Over 400 influential speakers from across the world shared their vision of the future and took part in debates on key digital topics. Co-founder of WHub, Karen Farzam, had an opportunity to speak at the conference and share her views on Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem. 

Hong Kong gets it own community-led FinTech association

The FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) was officially launched to champion an open, inclusive and diverse FinTech community in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has its own advantages to create a vibrant FinTech community, the association will help power the further development of Hong Kong as a leading FinTech hub. 

Karen Farzem, co-founder of WHub, as the board member to the FTAHK, commented that it is important to get the different views from the community on what is relevant, in order to identify what it needs for the FinTech development. 

4xLabs and Moneybay to collaborate in physical FX market

Singapore’s 4xLabs and Malaysia’s Moneybay have entered into a strategic partnership for cross-border collaboration in the physical FX market.  This partnership will see the two FinTech cooperating in terms of data sharing, technical integration as well as leveraging each other’s established networks. It will also bring new value to their users and build the foundation for future cooperation.

4xLabs is a Singapore-based fintech start-up and develops cloud-based services addressing the needs of all players in the often overlooked cash exchange market. It previously raised an additional USD$1.5M of funding to execute fully on their vision on product development and global growth. 

Cyberport startups celebrate a year of remarkable achievements 

Cyberport hosted a celebration for the remarkable achievements of the digital tech startups in its community over the past year. Its digital tech startups got the traction amongst local and regional start-up communities, as well as the high amount of HK$900M fund raised for the year. 

Cyberport is an innovative digital community with near 900 digital tech startups and companies. It fosters the growth of Hong Kong startup ecosystem and accelerates collaboration by working closely with our industry partners and investors.

Backstreet Academy raises $450k grant from Booking.com accelerator

Singaporean startup Backstreet Academy got a US$450K grant in Booking.com’s accelerator. Booking.com Booster is a three-week workshop and mentorship program to support promising startups in sustainable tourism. 

Backstreet Academy allows travellers or users to book unique activities hosted by the locals.  It aims to connect locals to the tourism industry so that they receive direct economic benefits.