With a strong capital pool and supportive government-led policies, Hong Kong has offered a solid foundation for companies to innovate, scale and transform the future of fintech.
Today, Hong Kong has one of the highest consumer fintech adoption rates (67%) in the world, ranking above markets such as France, US and Japan. It also has a high business-to-business (B2B) fintech adoption rate with 66% of fintech companies focusing on the B2B market.
The city is home to over 600 fintech companies including three fintech unicorns, namely Amber Group, Babel Finance, and WeLab, according to CB Insights.
Using data from Tech in Asia, we have compiled a list of 10 of the most active investors supporting Hong Kong’s fintech scene based on number of deals participated in over the past 24 months and startups backed.
SOSV
SOSV is a venture capital firm headquartered in New Jersey, USA. It operates startup development programmes HAX (hard tech), IndieBio (life sciences), dlab (blockchain), Chinaccelerator, and MOX (cross-border growth in Asia).
SOSV company has over 1,000 portfolio companies and US$1.3 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of January 2022.
SOSV has invested in more than 50 fintech companies, including cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, blockchain infrastructure company bitHolla, and financial intelligence solutions provider BizBaz.
According to Tech in Asia, SOSV has been the most active investor in the Hong Kong startup scene in the past 24 months.
Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands is a digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification company working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse.
It’s also an active investor in Web3.0, metaverse and cryptocurrency startups with a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot) and Yield Guild Games.
Animoca Brands currently has 28 decentralised finance (DeFi) companies in its portfolio including blokchain software company ConsenSys, digital assest bank Sygnum, as well as seven crypto wallets.
According to Tech in Asia, Animoca Brands has been the second most active investor in the Hong Kong startup scene having participated in 10 rounds involving companies from the city in the past 24 months.
These deals included custody and digital asset services provider Hex Trust and Ethereum-based decentralised non-fungible token (NFT) gaming metaverse The Sandbox.
Headline
Headline, formerly e.ventures and BV Capital, is an early stage venture capital firm investing in adtech, commerce, fintech, media, mobile and software. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Hamburg, Berlin, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow and Sao Paulo.
Headline has made 40 fintech investments so far including US robo-advisory Acorns, Brazilian consumer lending platform Creditas, German open banking platform Deposit Solutions, Nigerian payment infrastructure provider Flutterwave, and Swiss regtech startup Apiax.
Headline has made seven investments in Hong Kong in the past 24 months, making it the third most active investor in the city’s startup scene according to Tech in Asia.
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The firm specialises in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments. Sequoia’s total AUM was approximately US$85 billion as of 2022.
Notable investments by Sequoia Capital include Apple, Cisco, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, PayPal, Reddit, Tumblr, WhatsApp, and Zoom.
Sequoia Capital has made 30 fintech investments, including investments in Citadel Securities, Klarna, Papaya, Personetics and Stripe.
It has made seven investments in Hong Kong in the past 24 months, making it the fourth most active investor in the city’s startup scene according to Tech in Asia. These investments included crypto savings platform Finblox and Animoca Brands.
Liberty City Ventures
Headquartered in New York City, Liberty City Ventures is a venture capital fund and incubator with a focus on fintech, Web 3.0, gaming, metaverse, and supply chain logistics.
The firm invests at the seed stage through Series D in amounts ranging from US$250,000 to US$100 million and over, and has over US$1.5 billion of AUM.
Liberty City Ventures has made 19 fintech investments, including in crypto risk monitoring company Solidus Labs, blockchain-as-a-service company BlockApps, and digital asset exchange Fasset, according to Dealroom.
The firm has made six investments—including Hex Trust, The Sandbox and Animoca Brands—in Hong Kong over the past 24 months, making it the fifth most active startup investor in the city according to Tech in Asia.
Kenetic Capital
Founded in 2016, Kenetic Capital is a venture capital firm based in Hong Kong investing in blockchain technology companies that focus on scalability, payment systems and blockchain protocols for data transmission.
Kenetic Capital has made 34 fintech investments, including Blockdaemon, Snickerdoodle Labs, Gnosis and Merkle Science, according to Dealroom.
Over the past 24 months, the firm has made five investments in Hong Kong, making it the sixth most active investor in the city’s startup scene according to Tech in Asia. These included digital asset technology company First Digital Trust and decentralised interchangeable assets protocol Convergence Finance.
Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund
Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund is a not-for-profit initiative launched by Alibaba Group in 2015 to support entrepreneurs and young graduates in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In Hong Kong, the HK$1 billion fund focuses on industries and technologies such as fintech, big data, e-commerce, healthcare, security, the internet-of-things, and cleantech.
The fund has participated in four deals involving Hong Kong startups in the past 24 months, making it the seventh most active investor in the city’s startup scene according to Tech in Asia. This included cross-border e-commerce merchant financing company Qupital and digital media platform Forkast.
HashKey Capital
HashKey Capital is an institutional asset manager investing exclusively in blockchain technology and digital assets. Founded in 2015, the firm invests across the ecosystem, encompassing public blockchains, protocols, applications, and crypto finance providers.
HashKey Capital’s portfolio includes more than 200 companies in 17 regions. Its higher profile investments include Polkadot, BlockFi, Terra, Animoca Brands, Mask, Cosmos, Harmony, Blockdaemon and Moonbeam.
HashKey Capital was the eighth most active investor in the Hong Kong startup scene in the past 24 months having participated in four rounds involving companies from the city, according to Tech in Asia. These deals included crypto platform XanPool, Hex Trust, and Animoca Brands.
Dragonfly Capital
Dragonfly Capital is a crypto-focused investment firm that partners with crypto founders in all stages of development, from seed to Series D.
Since its inception in 2018, Dragonfly Capital has invested over US$700 million of capital including early investments in Avalanche, NEAR Protocol, Compound, MakerDAO, Amber Group, Anchorage, Bybit, and Dune Analytics.
Dragonfly Capital has made 24 fintech investments so far, according to Dealroom.
In the past 24 months, the firm has participated in four rounds involving companies from Hong Kong according to Tech in Asia, making it the ninth most active investor in the city’s startup scene. These deals included crypto financial service provider Babel Finance, social crypto investment platform Kikitrade, as well as Finblox and Animoca Brands.
Kingsway Capital
Kingsway Capital is a UK-based private equity fund focusing on areas such as commerce and shopping, fintech, as well as media and entertainment.
Kingsway Capital has made 22 fintech investments, including crypto platform BVNK, crypto payments platform Fung, and gaming payments processor Zebedee, according to Dealroom.
In the past 24 months, Kingsway Capital has participated in four rounds involving companies from Hong Kong according to Tech in Asia, making it the tenth most active investor in the city’s startup scene. These deals included Animoca Brands and The Sandbox.
Featured image credit: edited from Unsplash
