Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced that one of the 2014 StartmeupHK Venture Programme grand prize winners, Perseus, which is a US-based financial technology company, has opened a regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK, Mr Simon Galpin, was happy to see that the Department’s startup initiative has successfully attracted a leader to one of the fast-growing industries in the city.

“Perseus is among the many startups from the StartmeupHK Venture Programme with plans to set up in Hong Kong. Its arrival will benefit Hong Kong in terms of FinTech know-how as well as direct and indirect jobs created. I congratulate Perseus on its Hong Kong operation and look forward to seeing its further expansion in our city and beyond.”

“InvestHK is working on the continuation of the successful venture programme with thought of scaling it up further to a regional event. We will have more details to announce in the coming months,” MrGalpin said.

Perseus is a leading managed services provider of high-speed global networks, colocation and trading technologies. CEO Dr Jock Percy, said, “The Asian markets have been growing exponentially and the opportunities there are extremely prevalent right now. Hong Kong is at the center of that growth and Perseus has been planning to expand our operations here for several years to capitalize on this potential.”

Dr Percy said that the StartmeupHK title has “provided remarkable exposure for the Perseus brand as a leading provider of managed services, not only in the Asian markets, but globally as well.” He added, “While we’ve always envisioned having a presence in Hong Kong, this prestigious accolade reinforced that we are a powerful presence in this market and that our services are important to both the larger financial institutions and the smaller start-ups.”

Dr Percy said that the Hong Kong regional headquarters will help the company gain access into the Mainland market as it serves as “a launching pad for obtaining market share across China and further into the Asian markets.”

The StartmeupHK Venture Programme was first held in 2013 and again in 2014. The number of entries to the business proposal competition rose from 384 in 2013 to 550 in 2014. The events continued to attract hundreds of audiences in 2013 and 2014 respectively. InvestHK runs a dedicated one-stop portal www.startmeup.hk, listing the latest startup events and signposting visitors to resources including government incentive and incubation schemes. The Department has also been leveraging social media to reach out to startups both in Hong Kong and around the world, drawing their attention to the vibrant entrepreneur ecosystem in Hong Kong.