16 Community Start-ups Win Across 12 Categories
Hong Kong, 25 September 2020 – In recognition of its efforts in nurturing FinTech start-ups and fostering the financial industry’s digital transformation, Cyberport has been awarded the FinTech Ecosystem Contribution Honorary Award at the IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards. Its community companies – an integral part of its FinTech ecosystem – also won big: 16 Cyberport FinTech companies received 17 awards across 12 categories covering backbone technologies and financial services applications.
Cyberport’s accomplishment is the fruit of concerted efforts by all stakeholders
Eric Chan, Cyberport’s Chief Public Mission Officer, said, “After years of effort, Cyberport has built a leading position within the FinTech cluster. With nearly 400 FinTech companies, from start-ups to technology firms, our FinTech community is not only the largest in town but also one of the region’s leading FinTech hubs. Our ecosystem would not be complete without the active participation of many stakeholders including start-ups, financial institutions, government agencies, industry and professional services partners.”
He added, “Cyberport will spare no effort in nurturing FinTech talent, supporting start-ups and facilitating the financial industry’s digital transformation in order to make Hong Kong a world-class, innovative financial service hub, and maintain its status as the top international finance centre.”
Innovative solutions serving the entire financial industry
16 Cyberport community members can be found on the winning lists in 12 Awards categories, ranging from backbone technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing and data analytics to frontline services applications like InsurTech, PaymentTech, robo-advisor and RegTech.
Meanwhile, two Cyberport entrepreneurs, Tomas Holub, Founder and CEO of CoverGo and Tim Lee, Founder and CEO of QFPay Haojin FinTech, have been awarded Entrepreneur of The Year to celebrate their innovation and entrepreneurship. “The award is a great recognition of our achievements since starting CoverGo over 3 years ago,” Thomas Holub said. “We have developed our company from a small start-up into a fast-growing insurance technology provider enabling digital insurance transformation for insurers, managing general agents, banks and brokers across 3 continents. Although this is an individual award, I would like to dedicate it to the whole team that has made this possible. Also, I am very grateful to Cyberport for all the support and great opportunities provided to us. Cyberport has been essential in our development, especially when we were starting up.”
QFPay also won the Platinum Award in the Payment Tech category. Tim Lee is optimistic about the industry despite the challenging environment. “We are now in a world of change, and we can only be certain that there will be constant change for a long time,” he said. “QFPay is ready for the challenges, and we will keep focusing on our mission to help merchants doing business all over the world. I think it’s a tough time now, especially for our merchants, but we do believe crises actually create chances for businesses to upgrade. Those who survive this time will rise up as winners. Let us face the global challenge together with wisdom, action and hope, and thanks to Cyberport for its continuing support.”
The IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards, organised by the Institute of Financial Technologists of Asia, showcase and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of corporations, NGOs, start-ups and individuals in the Finance and Technology industry. The panel of judges was made up of industry players as well as leaders from technology associations, educational institutions, investment firms and government bodies.
