A Spectacular Approach To A Perfect Landing in Asia — Checkerboard Landing Program
Start-up attendees: Zennea Technologies (Biomedical Technology), Sitata (Travel and Insurance), HelpWear (Biomedical technology), EcoPackers (Environmental Technology, Curiato (Biomedical Technology), Halion Displays (Material Science and Deeptech) and Beatdapp Software (Media Technology).
Techatter’s latest episode touched on how to tap into the Asian market, especially when the world is facing a transforming landscape. Let’s review the Checkerboard Program and see how the Canadian companies have worked their way through. For the full video check out:
In late 2019, Saltagen Ventures hosted their first Checkerboard Landing Program that provided 8 Canadian start-ups that hailed from prestigious startup programs such as The Creative Destruction Lab, Techstars, Velocity, Y Combinator, 500 Startups with the chance to gain deeper insights into strategic landing tactics and expansion into the Asian markets.
The 8 startups had their trip to Hong Kong tailored to their own needs including business meetings with potential partners, networking sessions with experts within their industry and collaborative visits with Wise Ally, Osmunda, Queen Mary’s Hospital and many more.
The trip began with a welcoming cocktail session with Jeff Nankivell, the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao. The welcome reception gathered over 50 representatives from the technology ecosystem including InvestHK, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Alberta Government, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP) and many more.
The startups attended a series of workshops and events organized by HKSTP’s Global Accelerator Academy. They were given a deeper understanding of Hong Kong and China’s ecosystem as well as legal structures and taxation policies.
Later on the startups got together with investors in the Angel x Corporate Venture conference held at Deloitte which brought together Asian leading corporate ventures and VCs to share insights on the investment landscape in Asia and Hong Kong.
Towards the end of the program the startups took part in the Elevator Pitch organised by HKSTP, which is one of the largest startup events in town and took place in the tallest building on 100/F in HK! Three of our startups — Halion Displays, Sitata and EcoPacker were in the finalists to pitch to the investors.
It was an intensive and busy week but yet a rewarding experience for us, don’t take our word for it but hear it from Frank Nguyen — co-founder of HelpWear
“The Saltagen Checkerboard Program is a pivotal program to understanding how a new business can integrate into the Greater Bay Area & China as a new market opportunity. Saltagen has made introductions to us with manufactures, CROs, business opportunities and hospitals to help us understand how we can integrate HelpWear into a new area of the world.”
