Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 29 September 2019

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Christie’s brings the Art+Tech Summit to Hong Kong

Christie's, in collaboration with Christie's Education, and powered by WHub, is delighted to present Art+Tech: Mixed Reality in Hong Kong this November. The third instalment of the global summit and the first in Asia, follows the successful discussions on blockchain in London and on A.I in New York.

The one-day conference will explore the role and impact of immersive experiences through augmented, virtual and mixed realities in every aspect of contemporary living. Christie’s is also the first auction house in Asia to incorporate AR and VR technologies into exhibitions.

The programme of lectures, talks and panel discussions will bring together innovators and artists who adopt these digital tools in their practice; creatives and industry entrepreneurs who design digital platforms to enhance the display, connoisseurship and collecting in today’s global art market; and disruptors who continue to push the boundaries of our different realities. The continued influences of blockchain and artificial intelligence will be revisited.

We look forward to welcoming you to Art+Tech: Mixed Reality on 21 November at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

BeachCity expands it Asia Pacific footprint 

Australian-based BeachCity Media is expanding its Asia-Pacific footprint, signing a deal to establish a global social media centre for live broadcast and content production in Thailand’s $160 million technology park in Bangkok.

BeachCity is an edtech and social media content company providing Live and on demand video and podcast production quickly and cost-effectively. It’s target audience is the ever-increasing entrepreneurial and innovation market, focussing on producing authentic content to inspire and educate the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

BeachCity CEO Leigh Kelson said: “In the age of Wikipedia, Youtube, and Google, we think there’s more to learning than classrooms and lectures and the next generation want video on demand , and we’re on a mission to reimagine how we develop entrepreneurship capability across the globe.”

BeachCity has already built a strong presence in Asia, having been engaged to develop video and social media content at events such as:

• TechSauce Global Summit in Bangkok
• Rise in Hong Kong
• Startmeup festival Hong Kong
• Startup Nation in Bangkok
• Hong Kong Fintech Week in Hong Kong and Shenzhen

Hong Kong based Notey creates Global Website Speed Test

Hong Kong based Notey, a blog search and discovery platform, has launched Chinafy.com, a to allowing you to optimize your website for China. It allows you to understand china web performance, compatibility and technical SEO enhancements for your website all in one place in order to make your site fast, make it work and to optimize your content.

Notey,  has expanded to provide solutions to enterprises to bridge technological gaps between China’s internet and the rest of the world.

OnTheList comes to China!

The Hong Kong-based flash-sale giant OnTheList will hold its maiden event in Shanghai, China later this week. The 3-day event that starts on 26 September (Thursday) will be held at Garden Square on Beijing Road.

The flash sale will be conducted for fashion distributor ImagineX and will also feature brands Juicy Couture and Club Monaco. The products will be available at a discount of 90% and 80%, respectively.

Talking about expansion, Delphine Dultzin, Co-founder and CEO, OnTheList, said “After expanding into Singapore and Taiwan, the company is ready for a push into China.” Since its launch in January 2016 in Hong Kong, the flash-sale firm has employed a free customer membership model. OnTheList today has 200,000 members, of which 30% are active either online or offline.

The company also has a database of who is buying what at its regular flash sales, either at its permanent outlet in Hong Kong or at their pop-up store sales across Asia – and now that includes China too.

“From a business point of view, we don’t see China as a country, we see each city in China as a ‘country’ in its own right,” said Delphine.

Kenetic Capital, Hong Kong Blockchain VC Company invests in Token Tech Startup Securitize

Three of the globe’s giant banks – Nomura Holdings, MUFG, and Banco Santander – have supported Securitize, San Francisco based startup, which assists companies to tokenize their assets and securities.

Securitize which provides numerous services to support firms design blockchain-based security tokens, announced it has managed to raise a whopping $14 million in latest investment. The most recent financial round was controlled by the VC arms of the trio financial institutions from available investors that involve SeedRocket4Founders, SpiCE, and Blockchain Capital.

The latest fundraising also involved KDDI Open Innovation Fund, the venture branch of KDDI, one of the giant telecom companies in Japan, including Mitsui Fudosam-backed 31Ventures, Chinese blockchain-focused Fenbushi Capital, and famous Hong Kong Blockchain VC Company, Kenetic Capital.

The crypto-based compliance network, which has presently raised approximately $30 million in total financing, expects to utilize the money to continue to develop its activities.