Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 11 October 2020

10 Startups Selected for Accenture’s 2020 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific

Ten leading fintech companies have been selected for the seventh annual FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, a mentorship program created by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) that helps startups fine-tune their business plans and solutions by pairing them with mentors from leading financial institutions.

This year’s program received applications from 162 companies across more than 30 countries, with solutions related to the five themes for the 2020 program: data & analytics; digital bank solutions; emerging technologies; health insurance ecosystem; and intelligent automation.

Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, natural language processing and other technologies, the 10 selected startups — which hail from seven markets — have developed innovations designed to help financial institutions address a variety of challenges, including keeping up with compliance requirements, analyzing large volumes of structured and unstructured data, and building more-personalized customer products and services.

The 2020 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific participant from Hong Kong is:

Fano Labs (Hong Kong) – Specializing in speech recognition and natural language processing technologies across a wide variety of languages and dialects, Fano Labs helps enterprises with customer service, compliance and other lines of business, enabling them to accurately identify potential compliance risks, reduce costs, and uncover potential sales opportunities.

Vpon Big Data Group Launches US$10 million Debut Fund - Vpon Ventures

Vpon Big Data Group ("Vpon"), the Asian leading big data company, gladly announces today the official launch of its strategic investment arm. Called Vpon Ventures, the initial capital of this evergreen fund is 10 million US dollars. Vpon Venture's investment will concentrate on big data, A.I. and new economy-related industries in Asia, covering companies and startups in Japan and Hong Kong.

Victor Wu, CEO of Vpon said, "Vpon Ventures will focus on strategic investment. In addition to holding long shares and actively participating in corporate governance, we will also have strategic cooperation with those invested companies. Since Vpon understands that the data industry is closely linked, and hopes to strengthen the connections within the region, whilst providing capital, technology and business network resources for potential companies and start-ups. Besides, Vpon will forge the Longitudinal Alliance to seek cooperation opportunities with our existing clients and partners, such as international brands and the advertising industry. And we would also deepen our business development by collaborating with different sectors, including Digital Health, Insurance & Finance, IoT, and many more, as setting up the Horizontal Alliance. Our first investment shall be announced likely later this year, stay tuned!"

Lanturn secures US$3M to provide online corporate services to organisations in Singapore

Lanturn, a one-stop online corporate services startup based in Singapore, announced today that it has raised US$3 million in a seed funding round from a slew of investors, including East Ventures and Hong Kong-based CoCoon Ignite Ventures.

Also participating in the round were individual investors, including Alex Turnbull; Saki Georgiadis, Managing Partner at RVP Equity; Meiyen Tan, Head of Oon & Bazul’s Restructuring and Insolvency Practice; Chris Kelly, Partner at White & Case in the Asia-Pacific; and Tiang Foo Lim, a venture partner at Next Billion Ventures and a partner at SeedPlus.

The funds will be used to enhance Lanturn’s corporate service and accounting practices, continue to develop the Zave corporate services platform, and develop new service lines.

Impact Berry Sustainable Coffee Now Brewing at MANA!

Impact Berry, Hong Kong’s first actively social and most sustainable premium coffee brand, is now available at MANA! Starstreet and the new MANA! SoHo location as part of MANA!’s signature V-coffee menu. With the power of organic single origin coffee, sustainably and responsibly sourced from farms in Asia and roasted freshly in Hong Kong, every cup empowers farmers, their communities and the environment. Together with MANA!, Impact Berry is delighted to bring coffee drinkers the opportunity to impact together through responsible, sustainable coffee habits.
 

On the coffee drinking side, Impact Berry encourages kindness to the planet and to ourselves through organic coffee beans that are grown wildly, instead of on deforested farm plots. This helps preserve the indigenous ecosystem in Vietnam and Indonesia. By sourcing coffee from Asian regions and shipping by sea, Impact Berry reduces the transport carbon footprint of the coffee by up to 98% percent, compared to coffee sourced from Africa or South America. Impact Berry’s mission is to empower coffee farmers and their communities to earn a sustainable income from cultivating high quality coffee beans as well as to make coffee enjoyment more environmentally sustainable. More information is available at www.impactberry.com.hk
 

Together with MANA!’s well-loved plant-based whole-food and inspiring planet initiatives, an even greater impact can be made when eco-conscious coffee is combined with an eco-conscious menu. MANA!’s signature V-coffee, Hong Kong’s original vegan coffee is a concept that transforms the normal coffee experience into one that is fueled with high quality plant-based ingredients, made with non-dairy milks, and served in MANA!’s fully compostable cup and lid. More information is available at www.mana.hk