Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 9 August 2020

The Sandbox Game to launch IEO on Binance Launchpad

Binance Launchpad, Binance’s exclusive token launch platform for transformative blockchain projects — today has announced support for its third project of 2020, The Sandbox — a community-driven gaming platform that will allow creators to monetize assets and gaming experiences on the blockchain.

A token sale will be the next step for the company to raise funds after receiving a private round investment from Binance Labs. The highly anticipated The Sandbox (SAND) $3M USD token sale on Binance Launchpad will follow a lottery-format ticket claim and start on August 13, 2020, at 06:00 am UTC (+0).

Our team is building a unique virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences using SAND, the main utility token of the platform and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). SAND holders will be also able to participate in governance of the platform via a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), where they can exercise voting rights on key decisions of The Sandbox ecosystem.

Cyberport incubatee Clim8 (wearable technology startup) raises €2.75m

Clim8, a French wearable technology startup, has raised €2.75 million from Agileo Ventures, the Deveaux Group and Seventure Partners, which is investing from its Sport & Performance Capital fund. Founded in 2016, the Lyon-based company has patented thermal textiles for active wear. “We are the only ones today to offer a breakthrough technology in active thermoregulation to generate comfort that adapts in real time to the user and the environment,” explains CEO Florian Miguet.

According to a press release, the business makes over half of its sales outside of France, namely to outdoor sports equipment brands in Europe (Odlo, Ixon), South Korea (K2 Korea), Japan (TheNorthFace) and the US (W.L. Gore, Burton). “Since our beginning, premium brands we partnered up with have appreciated and recognized our deep technical and scientific knowledge and trust us to engineer the thermal clothing of tomorrow,” adds Miguet.

The Series A round will go to three business initiatives. For expansion, the company wants to introduce its products to the industrial and defense sectors and continue to enter new international markets. To develop its technology, the deeptech team will create the “Clim8 Lab”, a research and development hub that will ideally “give greater agility in the development of new products and prototyping”. As for the team, new members will come on board to support the next phase of growth.

Shenzhen embraces Hong Kong in financial markets integration plan, a prelude to easier capital controls

Shenzhen, the richest of Greater Bay Area cities in Guangdong province, has outlined a 50-point blueprint to expand and upgrade its financial services sector to grease trade and capital flows with investors based in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

The plan includes 85 measures aimed at fostering financial innovation, widening market access to foreign investors, and strengthening market cooperation with Hong Kong, according to details posted on the Shanghai Securities News website on Wednesday.

UNDP Youth Co:Lab at Startup Impact Summit 

We were so happy to have had UNDP Youth Co:Lab with us at Startup Impact Summit last month. Here is a recap of all the interesting sessions we had with them: 

Sessions: 

[Pitching] Tech For Good Startup Roadshow - IoT/Physical Innovation For The SDGs

[Pitching] Tech For Good Startup Roadshow - Digital Innovation for the SDGs

[Panel] Leaving No One Behind & Inclusive Tech

[Panel] Impact Investing - Myths and Truths​

[Panel] AgriTech, From Dust to Digital

[Workshop] Which SDGs do your startup align to? Workshop to showcase your impact