Alibaba anchor investor in HK$2 billion fund for Greater Bay Area start-up boom

Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF) will be anchor investor in the Greater Bay Area. As Hong Kong's first-ever venture fund formed by the private sector focused exclusively on startups in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), the GBA Fund aims to provide comprehensive programmes to nurture entrepreneurship in the region.  The target funding solution of the GBA Fund amounts to HK$2 billion. The final closing of the GBA Fund is expected to take place in the first half of 2022.

The AEF Greater Bay Area Fund is supported by limited partners including financial institutions, family offices and conglomerates, among others, in providing support for startups in the GBA. The GBA Fund is open to all kinds of startups from various industries, particularly in sustainability, deep tech, health tech, artificial intelligence (AI) and Industry 4.0 related projects. To help startups discover GBA opportunities, attract talents and build up a network among entrepreneurs, the GBA Fund is committing its capital and financial support to help startups thrive as well as tap into the potential of the Alibaba Ecosystem.
 
"We started AEF five years ago with the vision to invigorate the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Hong Kong," said Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman, of Alibaba Group and Chairman of Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. "We are now ready to extend our startup ecosystem to the Greater Bay Area in order to give innovators and entrepreneurs a bigger platform for growth."
 
"We are committing AEF’s capital and other forms of financing to support startups looking to tap into the potential of the Greater Bay Area," said Cindy Chow, executive director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund. "The investment into the AEF Greater Bay Area Fund is an extension of AEF's current efforts, given its experience and expertise in Hong Kong and the entire APAC region, as well as the rising demand of GBA-based startups to explore business and financing opportunities presented in the market. We invited strategic partners, who share the same vision with us, to empower more startups, so that we may all benefit from their success."

 
According to Alibaba, there are strong opportunities in the GBA. With a total GDP of US$1.7 trillion and a market of over 80 million people, the GBA's economy is comparable to other metropolitan clusters, including New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. To this day, Hong Kong remains the most important trading window to Guangdong province, and its status as an international finance and business center brings together talents and infrastructure in an environment geared for innovation.
 
As of 31 March 2021, AEF has invested in more than 50 startups, deployed HK$600 million and attracted over HK$13 billion of co-investments. The GBA Fund strengthens the mutually beneficial relationship Hong Kong has always enjoyed with the GBA.

Meanwhile, earlier this month HSBC and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) also  inked a strategic partnership to help small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) across all sectors unlock growth potential in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), and connect the wider business community to new opportunities in this dynamic urban cluster.

The partnership will combine the network and connections, market expertise as well as digital capabilities of both HSBC and HKTDC to offer multi-faceted support to Hong Kong SMEs. HSBC will become HKTDC’s GBA strategic partner in four main aspects: co-hosting GBA knowledge and insights on respective digital platforms; organising networking events in mainland GBA cities; conducting proprietary research and providing dedicated services and solutions in their respective fields.

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