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Hong Kong’s status as a global hub for finance and trade is dwindling. China’s unyielding Covid-19 policy has battered the city’s commerce-reliant economy and sparked a mass exodus in its workforce, which is currently near its lowest in a decade.
Rigorous travel regulations and intermittent ad hoc lockdowns have prompted companies to shift staff from Hong Kong to rival hubs such as Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney.
The restrictions have also kept tourists away and Hong Kong has missed out on the pent-up demand for travel – the benefits of which have been reaped by Southeast Asian economies such as Thailand and Indonesia.
However, this is not the first time Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s premier financial center has come under threat.
Questions were raised when Britain returned the former colony to China in 1997, but the city rose to prominence after becoming a gateway for foreign companies to do business with the world’s second-largest economy.
So, with Hong Kong currently in a fix, Tech in Asia highlights the investors banking on another roaring revival and actively putting their money into one of the world’s major financial powerhouses. After all, the city has previously squashed doubts over its place in the global economy and still houses one of the world’s top 10 stock exchanges by market capitalization.
Today we look at:
- The most active investors in Hong Kong’s startups
- Binance’s preparatory steps for the Ethereum Merge
- Other newsy highlights such as Sequoia slashing its Zomato stake and the latest funding round for Animoca Brands‘ Japan unit.
PS: If you want to get your startup in front of everyone that matters in Asia’s tech and startup scene – whether they’re investors who are eager to back the next big thing or fellow founders who are revolutionizing industries – you need to sign up for Startup Factory.
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Premium summary
Banking on a change in fortunes
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The Merge is coming
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