Participated · Series A · Jul 2023

Rice Robotics is a four-year-old Hong Kong company that builds autonomous indoor delivery robots and a line of disinfection robots. Its delivery robots carry up to 30 kg, offer internal storage of 39 x 27 x 34 cm, run for 12 hours and can recharge within one hour, navigating with SLAM. The robots have a starting market price of $9,000 and have been deployed since January 2021 delivering 7-Eleven products to SoftBank staff; Japan is now Rice’s biggest source of revenue. Rice counts clients in Japan including SoftBank, Toyota, Japan Post and Mitsui Group. The company moved production to a new 13,000-square-foot plant in Hong Kong, which increased annual production capacity from 500 to 2,000 robots. A portion of its recent funding has been deployed to scale manufacturing in Hong Kong and to push further into the Japanese market.

Led · Series A · Dec 2022

Avalon SteriTech develops cleaning, disinfection and sterilization technology infrastructure for public spaces. The company is part of the Avalon Group, a Hong Kong biomedical group founded in 2013, and is led by CEO Lewis Ho. Avalon plans to use newly raised funds to expedite overseas expansion, with a focus on the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets. It also intends to advance product development by building robotics, biotech, AI and data science capabilities. Avalon has entered the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) Elite Program and is eligible to receive up to HK$21.5 million to support growth. The company aspires to become a worldwide leader in public health infrastructure and protection.

Participated · Series A · May 2019

OneDegree offers a user-friendly front-end application that lets consumers purchase and manage insurance policies. Its backend system supports cross-claims processing, policy management, advanced analytics, and automated customer service to replace traditional manual workflows. The platform is designed to simplify buying and administering insurance for consumers. OneDegree plans to expand into the UAE by providing digital-asset insurance-as-a-service. The company is working with Dubai Insurance to seek regulatory approval in the UAE for custody wallet insurance and related products. The article does not disclose revenue, user counts, or other financial metrics. OneDegree is a Hong Kong-based insurtech firm that develops technology-driven insurance services. The company is reported to be expanding its insurance reach across Asia. Tech in Asia describes the firm as pursuing regional growth. Financially, OneDegree has completed a second tranche of its Series B, raising US$27 million. That tranche brings the company’s total funds raised to over US$100 million, CEO Alvin Kwock told Tech in Asia. No additional operating metrics or product details were disclosed in the article. OneDegree is a Hong Kong insurance-technology startup developing an online insurance platform. The platform is designed to make buying insurance easier for consumers and providers by using data analytics to automate tedious parts of the process. The company plans to launch with medical insurance for pets once its license is approved by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority. After that launch it intends to expand into travel, cyber and human medical insurance products. OneDegree recently extended its Series A to $30 million, signaling recent fundraising momentum. Co-founder Alvin Kwock said the company aims to work with traditional insurers to steer the industry toward a fully digital ecosystem. OneDegree has built an online insurance platform and app that lets consumers purchase personal lines and health insurance products without consulting an agent, backed by a backend that automates claims, policy management and customer service. The startup will initially sell medical insurance plans for pets, targeting a market of more than 500,000 dogs and cats in Hong Kong where only about 2–3% are insured. OneDegree blames low pet insurance penetration on ineffective distribution and notes pet ownership is growing at about 3.5% annually and attracts relatively affluent owners. The company participated in Cyberport, Hong Kong’s government startup incubator. OneDegree claims its Series A is the largest-ever fundraising for a pre-revenue insurtech startup in Hong Kong. It plans to use the funding for tech development, new product launches, marketing and as risk capital once it launches its insurance business.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2017

Lynk operates a knowledge-as-a-service marketplace that uses machine learning algorithms to match users with more than 840,000 experts. The platform serves clients including financial institutions and government organizations, aiming to surface experts not easily found online or via traditional consultancies. Lynk has offices in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Shanghai and Toronto and was founded in 2015 by CEO Peggy Choi. As part of its commercial strategy it partners with institutional clients and research teams to integrate expert access into their workflows. The company is expanding a collaboration with UBS to give UBS research analysts and institutional investor clients access to Lynk’s database and tools. Financially, Lynk has raised a total of $35 million to date, with a $29 million Series B that was recently increased by UBS’s strategic investment. Lynk is a knowledge-as-a-service platform that connects clients with more than 840,000 experts and uses machine learning to match users to specialists based on what they know. Its flagship product, Lynk Answers, is used by about 200 enterprise clients for research on geography expansion, product-market fit, due diligence and supply-chain issues. The platform includes SaaS collaboration features such as auto-transcription and organized, searchable expert interviews. Lynk monetizes by charging enterprise clients a subscription fee. The company has more than 200 employees and operates offices across multiple cities including Hong Kong, New York City, Singapore, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Hyderabad, Toronto and Manila. Planned use of funds includes product launches and expansion in North America and China. Lynk operates a Software-as-a-Service platform built on an expert network that lets customers access expertise and insights from advisors to innovate, enter new markets, and evaluate risk and opportunities. Its KaaS technology leverages natural language processing, conversational AI analytics, and machine learning with human-in-the-loop to enable expert knowledge acquisition and sharing at scale. The company gathers and structures data from diverse sources, curates and validates them, and organizes information via a knowledge graph that objectively scores experts. Customers include Fortune 100 companies, top-tier consulting firms, global private equity funds, hedge funds, media, government agencies, multinational enterprises and start-ups across more than 60 countries. Led by CEO and founder Peggy Choi, Lynk has offices in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai and Shanghai. The company closed a funding round of undisclosed amount and says it will use the proceeds to continue expanding its business reach. Lynk provides a SaaS-based curated platform enabling enterprise users to find, compare and engage experts across a wide range of sectors. Users can connect with experts via phone calls, in-person meetings, teleconferences and consulting projects. The platform features over 35,000 experts across 70 countries, covering sectors such as tech, logistics, banking and finance, healthcare, media, legal, education and consumer goods. Founded in 2013 by CEO Peggy Choi, Lynk serves enterprise clients seeking on-demand expertise and knowledge. The company intends to use the new funding to expand its market reach and continue to develop its platform. The articles report the company raised a Series A round of US$4m.