HONG KONG — State-run Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp. (HKSTP) is targeting Filipino financial technology (fintech) startups with an offer of its regulatory sandbox and the potential for a capital injection of up to $2 million, or about ₱117.8 million.

During the Hong Kong FinTech Week 2025, HKSTP Acting Chief Corporate Development Officer Eric Or said the government-run corporation invests around $1 million to $2 million on average in a company.

According to Or, HKSTP has a panel—including external technology and investment experts—that conducts an assessment on a company’s potential. It examines a startup’s technology, the uniqueness of its value proposition, its founder, and its projected future market size.

Or noted that deciding on whether HKSTP would invest or not in a company is a collective decision of the panel, not his alone.

“Since this involves the [Hong Kong] government, it’s still taxpayer money. So we are very careful when making investment decisions. Every company must go through that panel,” Or further said.

To date, HKSTP has incubated over 1,000 companies since its inception over two decades ago. There have been over 2,400 startups that have graduated from the firm’s incubation programs, while more than 1,200 budding companies are currently being supported.

Despite the high mortality rate—eight in 10 companies die—among startups, HKSTP claims that more than 80 percent of graduated incubatees remain in business.

Notably, HKSTP has supported six overseas unicorns and seven home-grown unicorns, or those with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. These privately held startups are expected to achieve rapid growth and market expansion by using innovative or groundbreaking technologies.

Since the fiscal year (FY) 2018, the corporation has reported raising nearly $20 billion.

It can be noted that HKSTP companies come from 26 countries or regions across the world, but there are zero from the Philippines, the firm disclosed to Manila Bulletin.

Or said that while HKSTP is taking its company to Southeast Asian countries, he said the firm still has insufficient resources to penetrate the Philippines.

“Anybody who’s interested in looking at China as a market, we, Science Park, are the best location, a gateway, a springboard, a platform,” he reiterated.

He said if tenant companies, or those being incubated, are seeking engineers, they can tap the HKSTP talent team to help in searching and connecting them with qualified candidates. “You have to have the money, so we connect you with the candidates,” said Or.

HKSTP is accepting general startups up to three years old and BioTech startups up to four years old.

Eligible companies can have a valuation of up to $5 million, employ more than two full-time employees, and have at least 50 percent of their staff technical.

It also offers advanced programs, including a co-acceleration program with up to $2 million in funding and an elite program with up to $2.8 million.

Unlike the Incubation and Incu-Bio programs, these are available only when HKSTP takes an interest in a startup with a higher valuation and invites it for business development purposes.