Guide to landing Web3.0 in Hong Kong Cyberport: How to obtain 1.3 million subsidies and a free office?

Guide to landing Web3.0 in Hong Kong Cyberport: How to get subsidies and a free office?

Hong Kong local entrepreneur Ivan, born in the 80s, received a subsidy of HK $100,000 from the Hong Kong government with just one idea. Subsequently, millions of dollars in subsidies are still beckoning to him. Ivan’s project, DanceFit, combines AI+, fitness and dance, and social platforms, allowing users to dance on AI-recognized devices, share videos, and earn rewards.

All of this is thanks to the Hong Kong government’s support for entrepreneurship in the Web3.0 field, with Cyberport taking on the role of directly supporting startups. In January 2023, Hong Kong established the “Cyberport Web3.0 Base,” and the budget announcement allocated HK$50 million to accelerate the development of the Web3.0 ecosystem.

On Father’s Day, June 18, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote that since the establishment of the “Cyberport Web3.0 Base,” more than 150 Web3.0 companies have entered Cyberport.

If you want to start a Web3.0 company, how can you smoothly enter Cyberport and receive more than a million Hong Kong dollars in subsidies? Techub News will provide you with a guide.

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1. Cyberport’s Million-Dollar Subsidy

In September 2022, Ivan had an idea to combine AI+web3+fitness dance social platforms, allowing users to dance and share videos on any AI-recognized device while earning rewards.

The following month, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced a declaration on virtual assets.

Ivan began to organize his entrepreneurial ideas.

He invited a friend who knew the policy situation to dinner and talked about his entrepreneurial ideas. The friend encouraged him to apply for Cyberport’s incubation program. After dinner, Ivan immediately applied for Cyberport’s CCMF (Creative Micro Fund) incubation program on the Cyberport official website.

In January 2023, Hong Kong established the “Cyberport Web3.0 Base,” and the budget announcement allocated HK$50 million to accelerate the development of the Web3.0 ecosystem.

In February, DanceFit received an interview notice. Of the more than 100 applications, about 40 projects passed the screening and entered the interview stage, and about 10 projects passed the interview.

“I looked at the list, and there was one web3.0 type, including me. Most of the others were other types of technology. The team background is from Europe, America, Korea, Japan, etc., but 30% are Chinese teams,” Ivan told Techub News.

Compared with CIP, the application requirements are higher.

“CIP hopes that you have a clear product business that can be promoted, or at least you need to launch a product within 12 months after the successful application, and you also need a 12-18 month marketing plan.” Linda told Techub News.

Therefore, newly established projects can apply for CCMF first, and then apply for CIP after being selected.

The mandatory requirements for applying for CIP include:

1. The applicant must be a company registered in Hong Kong;

2. The project has been established for less than 7 years before the application;

3. The applicant must hold more than 51% of the company’s equity, and if not, he or she needs to obtain a shareholder authorization letter;

4. For companies that have passed the application, the team needs at least one person to be stationed in Hong Kong for 1 year, but does not need to work in Cyberport.

According to the experience of visiting Cyberport by Liu Ye Jinghong, the chief editor of the self-media Wesman Notebook, if you enter Cyberport, there will be a 30% attendance requirement, calculated by the clock-in and clock-out records, and no sitting is required. Go after the card is swiped, but the 30% attendance rate is not clearly defined as one week or one year.

“So you can see that there are many vacancies in the Cyberport office, but in fact they have all been rented out.” Liu Ye said.

Entrepreneurs who apply for CIP can get up to HKD 500,000, and the incubation period is two years, divided into four stages for distribution.

If the application is approved, you can get HKD 100,000, and if you pass the first interview, you can get HKD 50,000; if you pass the second interview, you can continue to get HKD 50,000; if you pass the third and fourth interviews together, you can get HKD 100,000 at one time. There is a 6-month preparation time for each round.

In addition, if the applicant company wins trophies or rewards from other competitions during the incubation period, it will also receive an additional HKD 200,000 in subsidies after completing the four rounds of interviews.

In addition, after the half-year or two-year incubation period is over, entrepreneurs will become graduates, and projects that have graduated no more than 5 years can also apply for CASP (Acceleration Support Program), which is specifically designed to help projects develop international markets, and the application for funding can reach HKD 300,000.

In addition, there is also a support plan for developing the mainland market, MDSS, with an application fund of up to HKD 200,000.

If the project participates in multiple acceleration plans of Cyberport, there is also a subsidy plan of HKD 200,000 that can be applied for.

Therefore, if a project passes all applications, it can receive a subsidy of up to 1.3 million Hong Kong dollars.

In April, Kong Jianping, director of Hong Kong Cyberport, said: “We have just evaluated a batch of projects at Cyberport, and about a dozen Web3.0 projects are eligible for a funding of HKD 500,000 in the incubation program.”

On May 24, the hardware wallet OneKey announced that it had received a HKD 500,000 grant from Cyberport and was provided with office space by Cyberport.

2. Cyberport Ecosystem

Chen Jiahao, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Digital Finance Association and a member of the Cyberport Incubation Panel, once shared his evaluation criteria for Web3.0 entrepreneurial projects: first, innovation accounts for 30%, which depends on whether there are too many similar projects at present; secondly, application accounts for 30%, whether the project can land and bring value to Hong Kong rather than being fanciful; third, self-driving accounts for 30%, whether the team has been running stably for some time; finally, social responsibility accounts for 10%, whether the project has a sense of social responsibility.

Chen Jiahao said that conducting Web3.0 entrepreneurship in Hong Kong would not be affected by mainland policies, and that Hong Kong’s move towards a global virtual asset innovation center is a long-term plan.

Yan Diyu, the financial technology director of Cyberport, said that although the Cyberport incubation program only lasts for two years, companies that have participated in the program, like graduates, do not necessarily leave Cyberport after “graduation.” Many “graduates” still maintain close contact with Cyberport. Yan believes that because of Cyberport’s resources and the entire ecosystem, it is also helpful for their future development. At the same time, these relatively mature companies will also provide a lot of help to “junior brothers and sisters,” and even directly invest in projects that they favor. For example, Animoca Brands has already invested in more than 300 Web3.0 projects. This forms an industry ecosystem with internal driving force.

At present, the application for Cyberport’s funding program has entered its second phase, with a deadline of July 3, 2023, and applicants can register on the official website.

3. Choosing to Settle in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Technology Talent Admission Scheme refers to the introduction of overseas and mainland technology talents to eligible companies to work on research and development in Hong Kong. After the company’s application is granted with a quota, it can apply for a work visa for technology talents within the validity period of 24 months.

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