EMOTICS NAMED HONG KONG’S BEST STARTUP AT SEEDSTARS HONG KONG
On August 31st during Seedstars Hong Kong, Emotics won the Hong Kong round of Seedstars World and will represent the country at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland to compete for up to USD 1 million in equity investment.
Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes brought its Hong Kong round to a successful close during Seedstars Hong Kong. The event took place this Thursday in HKTDC’s SME Center, and eight selected startups were invited to present their ideas in front of the local jury panel.
The local winner, Emotics, which increases engagement with compliance training in heavily regulated industries using machine learning and facial expression analysis, was selected the best startup in Hong Kong for its adjective solution. As a part of the prize, Emotics will be participating at Seedstars Summit, taking place in Switzerland in April 2018, a weeklong training program with the opportunity to meet the other 65 winners, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. Traditionally, the final day of the Summit will be dedicated to pitching in front of audience of 1000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to the USD 1 million equity investment.
Rocketbots that allows enterprises to improve their internal communication (e.g. front line employees) with our AI-powered platform and chatbot solution, came second and Zhenhub, which enables modern retailers to execute global logistics operations from anywhere in the world with one click, grabbed the last spot in the top 3. The other startups invited to pitch were BeltRoad, ibebot, LOKOL, Mindfio, and Valoot.
The eight startups pitched in front of a prestigious jury, including John Koh, from Koh Vass & Co in Association with Osborne Clarke, Janos Barberis from SuperCharger, Derek Kwik from Brave Soldier Venture Capital, Desmond Marshall from Rouge Ventures, and Adriana Collini from Seedstars.
Seedstars Hong Kong also featured a fireside chat: John Koh, Managing Partner of Koh Vass & Co in Association with Osborne Clarke discussed failures and the resulting learnings with the two founders Sonalie Figueiras, Founder, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief of Green Queen and Martina Bin, Director of EatFresh. The local Ambassador of Seedstars World, Kieran Hervieu, organized the event with Seedstars World’s local partners Koh Vass & Co in Association with Osborne Clarke, and the Embassy of Switzerland in Hong Kong. Further support was provided by HKTDC, NexChange, Rouge Ventures, Pitch Perfect, Nest and WHUB. The event attracted interest from over 49 startups, and over 160 attendees.
Continuing on its world tour of startup scenes in emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, Seedstars World’s next stop is Jakarta at Kibar’s, to select the best startup in Indonesia. Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market.