Hong Kong’s Nest launches second corporate-sponsored accelerator with DBS

The accelerator boom continues in Asia, skeptical Tweeters be damned. Today Nest, a long-standing accelerator in Hong Kong, announced it will begin accepting applications for a new fintech-themed accelerator program launched in partnership with DBS bank.

According to Nest, startups from Hong Kong and elsewhere that join the program will receive guidance from DBS’s network as well as Nest’s internal team. Teams can opt to house themselves in a newly-renovated 5,000 square workspace in Wan Chai. The program is set to begin in early August and end in November with a Demo Day.

Fintech is a hot topic in Hong Kong, with many in the local startup community pointing to city’s the robust finance industry as a fertile starting point for entrepreneurship. Some of the city’s best-funded startups have hands in fintech. Peer-to-peer lending startup WeLab closed a US$20 million round last January, social trading startup 8 Securities nabbed a US$9 million round last July, and enterprise financial software firm DemystData scored US$5 million in funding in 2014 (with participation from Arbor Ventures, a Hong Kong fund with a keen interest in fintech).

We’ve inquired with Nest fo find out if it or DBS will charge fees or take equity in the startups that join the program.

Corporate and corporate-sponsored accelerator programs, wherein a big business pays an accelerator to run a program, have grown increasingly common. In Hong Kong, British conglomerate Swire runs Blueprint, a business-to-business themed accelerator and workspace. Nest also works with health insurance firm AIA to operate a healthcare-themed accelerator in the city.

Editing by Michael Tegos, top image by joopdorrestejin