Startup ecosystem in Hong Kong

Did you know Hong Kong was once again crowned the World’s Freest Economy in 2024? The Fraser Institute’s 2024 report (based on 2022 data) confirms Hong Kong’s top position, leading 165 jurisdictions in business freedom, trade, and a stable financial system. This makes it an exceptional destination for expats and entrepreneurs.

For some time now, Hong Kong has consistently ranked in the top 5 for ease of doing business and boasts a fast-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Startup entrepreneurs consider Hong Kong to be one of the best places to confidently kickstart your entrepreneurial career. Let’s explore if Hong Kong is the right place to set up your business in this short guide.

Hong Kong: Asia’s Most Dynamic Startup Ecosystem in 2024

Hong Kong’s startup landscape has shown remarkable resilience, continuing its upward trend into 2024. Despite ongoing external challenges, the findings from InvestHK’s 2024 Startup Survey, conducted by Startmeup, revealed a surge in the total number of startups to 4,694, employing 17,651 individuals. This record high underscores the ecosystem’s vitality and Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s Opportunity Hub, driving innovation, agility, and diversity.

Startmeup is a dedicated platform that provides comprehensive data and insights into Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem. It acts as a central hub for startups, investors, and talent, offering resources, connections, and up-to-date market intelligence to foster growth and collaboration within the community.

4 elements that keep Hong Kong thriving with the best startup ecosystem

The positive survey results that we showed earlier support Hong Kong’s strong attraction to startup founders. They appreciate :

• simplicity of tax system and low tax rate
• availability of funding
• attractive business opportunities in Mainland China
• ease of access to international and regional markets
• access to multilingual human capital and talent pool

These advantages underscore Hong Kong’s strategic role in promoting businesses looking to connect with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and major Asian markets. Beyond these core elements, a thriving startup ecosystem is also shaped by support, infrastructure, capital, and talent.

Hong Kong has consistently excelled in these 4 areas in recent years. While its ecosystem a decade ago might have looked very different, thanks to significant developments, Hong Kong is now recognized as one of the best places for anyone to confidently start and succeed in their entrepreneurial career. Let’s have a look at 4 elements that form the Hong Kong ecosystem. 

Support by the Hong Kong Government

For this, the InvestHK activity has started to help those who want to build something in Hong Kong. It is an organization that helps in promoting inbound foreign direct investment, and it also offers support to those who join the Hong Kong startup ecosystem.

InvestHK wanted to do more to support the entrepreneurs coming into Hong Kong to open a company. Hence, in 2013, they started StartmeupHK, which was an initiative to concentrate completely on the startup community. Since then, they have evolved more to support the startup ecosystem, where one of the premier startup events in Hong Kong is the annual eponymous festival that is hosted by InvestHK.

Hong Kong Infrastructure

In Hong Kong, there are over 50 innovation labs, incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces currently, while some years ago, there was only one Cyberport. After the Cyberport, two new co-working spaces were launched called The Hive, and CoCoon. The places here are pretty impressive, where each has open-concept workstations, high-end design, and also free coffee.

Inspired by all the ones that started in 2012, there are about a hundred services like these that are provided by huge global operators such as WeWork, as well as many small local spaces too. Along with these, there are many corporate innovation programs and a huge number of accelerator programs like Cyberport, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Nest, Eureka Nova, Swire’s Blueprint, and Brinc.

And that is not all! There are also a lot of government-assisted programs that help those entrepreneurs coming into the country, like the Science Park’s “Incu” Programs, and Cyberport Incubation are also some of the best ones.

Capital

In Hong Kong, the funding environment was entirely controlled by the great foundations like Horizons Ventures. But nowadays, things have become much better, where there are many rising star VC firms such as the Vectr Ventures and the Mindworks Ventures. These firms have overshadowed the once tightly held oligopolies.

Moreover, another great Chinese corporation that has its name at the top for helping the local startups and even international ones is Alibaba’s Entrepreneurship Fund. Overall, there has been a huge change in the risk appetite of about five million high net worth individuals (HNWI) within Asia who are much more supportive of helping the startups.

Talent

As per the InvestHK’s 2024 Startup Survey (results finalized in September 2024), Hong Kong’s vibrant startup ecosystem reached new heights. The total number of startups surged to 4,694, employing 17,651 individuals, marking record highs and a significant increase compared to previous years (e.g., 4,257 startups and 16,453 employees in 2023, and a mere 2,000 startups with 5,000 employees in 2016). The survey further reveals Hong Kong’s strong appeal to international entrepreneurs, with 28% of founders coming from overseas. While Mainland China remains the largest source of non-local founders, the United States continues to be a significant contributor, alongside the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

Hong Kong has effectively overcome past challenges, notably in talent retention and ecosystem development. Furthermore, Hong Kong’s funding landscape has dramatically matured, featuring a rise in VC firms, extensive government funding schemes, and increased risk appetite among Asian investors. Its infrastructure has also vastly expanded, with over 50 innovation hubs, ensuring a robust and attractive environment for both foreign and local entrepreneurs.

Ready to Launch? Hong Kong’s Ecosystem Awaits Your Business with Startupr

Even though these four points might seem as something small or something some of you can handle by yourself, remember these are highly important aspects that your business will have to face sooner or later. So, if you are about to choose a place for opening your business, the ecosystem of Hong Kong is the right one for you.

And when you have all your business plan and idea ready, you can have your company incorporated from your home country. Startupr can assist you in registering and incorporating your business in Hong Kong within a maximum of 3-5 working days. For more details about our services and packages, please contact Startupr today!

Last update: June 2025