By Niccolò Schlueb, Junior Project Manager Innovation & Entrepreneurship

There was no better destination for the Swiss National Fintech Team than the heart of Asia’s Financial markets and the gateway to the most dynamic region in the world: Hong Kong. Led by swissnex China and Venturelab, ten selected top Swiss fintech startups arrived on Sunday November 3 in Hong Kong to kick-off their week-long program of meetings with potential investors and partners, workshops and discussions. The startups also partook in the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019 including two days of participating at the Fintech conference and a day trip to Shenzhen. Because this was the first Venture Leaders Fintech to take place in Asia, both expectations and excitement were extremely high and we could not wait to get started the next day.

The 10 Swiss National Fintech Startups:

Day 1: Monday November 4

First up on the agenda was a company visit to the Swiss investment firm Silverhorn Group to attend two consecutive workshops. The delegation was warmly welcomed by Patrick Heuscher, Olympic bronze medallist in beach volleyball, who now creates a stir in Asia’s investment sectors at Silverhorn Group. Musheer Ahmed from the Fintech Association of Hong Kong then spoke about the Fintech ecosystems in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Edward Webre and Isabella Wong from Deacons, Hong Kong’s oldest first-tier law firm, addressed important aspects in the local legal frameworks for foreign fintech companies that plan to set up an office in Hong Kong. A hot topic of discussion for the first, but certainly not for the last time, was the difference between the financial markets of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Subsequently, the Venture Leaders had the chance to pitch their startups at LGT in front of a high-ranking delegation and received valuable feedback from top experts within the banking industries.

Afterwards the delegation was welcomed by Howse Williams, a HK based law firm which made a brief introduction and answered questions regarding the judicial systems in Hong Kong finance. Representatives from CIGP investment advisors joined the meeting and gave helpful advice to the startups, which received another opportunity to present their exciting businesses.

The last meeting of the intense, but insightful day consisted of a meet-up with Standard Chartered Ventures, who specifically focus on the support of emerging fintech companies. The meeting included a pitch-session, which was also broadcasted to SC Venture’s office in Singapore.

Andrea Girasole from Billte about the investor meetings: “This is extremely important for us as Asia is a booming market in general, especially Hong Kong and China. We are looking to expand into this area as well. I delivered the pitch of our company to several investors and potential partners. Partners being banks and financial companies. It’s been a fantastic experience and I highly recommend it.”

Day 2: Tuesday November 5

In the early morning, the delegation visited Eureka Nova, an accelerator by the New World Group, who held a workshop about the Hong Kong startup ecosystem and answered the startups’ many questions. Then, Oriente, a successfully launched Fintech startup welcomed the Swiss Fintech champions to its office. Oriente provided insightful information about their progression as a startup and answered the various questions of the team.

A lunch meeting with Invest Hong Kong and GP Bullhound was scheduled next as they presented more details about their programs and the general investment environment in HK. Afterwards, the startups were able to present their ideas in an intensive pitch-session to invest HK and GP Bullhound.

Two important pitch-sessions followed: firstly, at HSBC and secondly, at the Swiss Bank UBS. With great enthusiasm, the Swiss National Fintech Team made a lasting impression with their exciting business strategies.

In the evening, the long-awaited first highlight of the week took place. The Venture Leaders and our other 50 high-profile guests boarded the beautiful Aqua Luna, which set sail in Victoria Harbour surrounded by the millions of lights of Hong Kong’s skyline. Of course, the purpose of the cruise was not only to admire the stunning scenery: We also challenged our entrepreneurs to pitch on the swaying boat! Nevertheless, it is safe to say that all startups did a great job and they made valuable connections with our guests.

Day 3: Wednesday November 6

The Hong Kong Fintech conference (HKFTW2019) opened its doors on Wednesday and the Swiss National Fintech Team was ready to showcase high quality in Swiss fintech. The delegation was represented through the Swiss Fintech Pavilion, in which every startup had its own booth with promotion material. During HKFTW2019, various meetings with Hong Kong government, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, interviews with South China Morning Post and Hong Kong Economic Times were scheduled.

Hong Kong Government delegation visiting the Swiss Fintech Pavilion

In the evening, the second main event was held, granting a somewhat different view of the skyline. On 100th floor of the ICC – Hong Kong’s tallest building - the startups engaged in a lively pitching competition in front of 100 guests and the critical eyes of our jury: Brian Ma from AngelVest, Veronica Fung from the Fintech Association of Hong Kong and Peter Luk from Hong Kong Science and Technology Park assessed the startups’ presentations and asked challenging question in the end of each pitch. Andi Burri from Loanboox topped the high quality of pitches throughout the evening and won the Venture Leaders Fintech Hong Kong Pitching Award for the best pitch of the evening.

Andi Burri about Venture Leaders Fintech: “So, for me personally, I had maybe around 100 contacts and personal interactions already, alongside the 20 pitches, and I learned so much about whether Loanboox has the potential to access the Asian market or whether we need to grow a little bit more in Europe first. For that, I am highly thankful. I thank for the whole organization and I think this is one of the best pitching event organization that I’ve seen in my life and I am very thankful. Also, I am looking forward to getting further feedback from the interviews I’ve had. I wish all the best to my colleagues with whom I’ve had the pleasure to be part of this journey and to Venturelab and swissnex China going forward.”

Day 4: Thursday November 7

The focus of Thursday’s program was the Hong Kong Fintech Week. The startups attracted a lot of attention and could deeply connect with interested visitors. A pitching session on the exhibition’s stage was organized and Mr. Rolf Frei, incoming Consul General of Switzerland to Hong Kong, visited during the day and took his time to talk to each startup. A stunning 8’000 people in total visited the expo. It is estimated that each startup held about 30-50 conversations during the HKFTW2019, with some being busy almost non-stop.

Day 5: Friday November 8

On Friday, the final day, the ten entrepreneurs travelled to Shenzhen for company visits. The startups could select between four tours, which brought the representatives to either WeLab-Tencent, WeBank-ZhongAn, Gala Lunch-Tencent or ZhongAn-WeBank.

The intense 6-day Venture Leaders Fintech program concluded on Friday evening with a hearty farewell dinner. Despite the short time together, the team grew close and everyone was excited to find out which contacts and opportunities made in the past week would bear fruit and open the gateway to the Asian fintech markets. Everyone agreed that their paths would cross again in the future as there is no way on their professional roadmap that would go around Asia.

swissnex China looks back at a very successful first edition of the Venture Leaders Fintech program, linking our 10 Fintech startup champions with local multi-$B investors, mentors, experts and business partners. swissnex China also made sure to provide the startups countless opportunities to pitch, including the two highlights of the week: the pitching events on the 100th floor of the tallest building in Hong Kong and on the iconic red-sail Aqua Luna. Luckily, Daniel Schmidheiny didn’t lose count: “An exceptional week has come to a close here in Hong Kong. It was just as intense as fun, in short: vlot Ltd. pitched and presented a total of 16 times. I made countless interactions with interested parties and now have no business cards left. Furthermore, I got a a first taste of the actual market size (still struggling on this one) and received extremely helpful insights from local experts to the needs and expectations of the clients”

Daniel Schimdheiny pitching vlot at HK Fintech Week

Congratulations to our Swiss National Fintech Startups - we wish them every success with their follow-up discussions and meetings!

We would like to express our special thanks to our program partners, without whose generous support this incredible program would not have been possible: digitalswitzerland, EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), ETH Zürich, IMMOMIG V8.0, PostFinance Ltd, Redalpine, Presence Switzerland, Swiss Consulate General in HK, Walder Wyss Ltd., Volkswirtschaftsdirektion Kanton Zürich and Zühlke Group HK.

Venture Leaders Fintech 2019 is co-organized by Venturelab and swissnex China.