Grand Opening of Saltagen Ventures Acceleration Lab
Saltagen Ventures (‘Saltagen’), launched be Fairchild Capital Management, officially opened its Acceleration Lab on Wyndham Street, Central and was attended by distinguished guests, friends and peers.
Saltagen is founded and managed by Mr. Joseph Fung, grandson of Mr. Fung King Hey, founding member of Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd., and son of Dr. Thomas Fung Wing-Fat, Chairman of the Fairchild Group. The opening of the Saltagen Acceleration Lab is just the first step in its venture investment strategy, connecting the Hong Kong and Canadian technology startup ecosystems.
Saltagen collaborates with public and private sector partners in Canada to bridge Canadian and Hong Kong technology startup ecosystems, strategically investing in early stage technology startups, from pre-seed to Series A in Canada and Greater China. The Acceleration Lab not only provides entrepreneurs a collaborative, connected working space right in the heart of the business hub of Hong Kong, it will also accelerate their growth and landing in Asia helping to scale their business and develop efficiencies across the Pacific.
A select number of guests, including guest of honour, Mr. Jeff Nankivell, Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao, joined Dr. Thomas Fung, Chairman of the Fairchild Group and Mr. Joseph Fung, Managing Partner and Founder of Saltagen, at the Wyndham Street venue to mark the official opening of the Acceleration Lab. Following a very warm welcome by Joseph Fung, Thomas and Joseph set a solar-powered globe to rotate, symbolizing the connections and interconnections around the world that Saltagen will enable. A short speech by Mr. Andre Bertram and Mr. Frank Nyugen, co-founders of HelpWear, Saltagen’s first investment, pointed out the significance for the young entrepreneurs to have Saltagen’s expertise and support to help them understand and expand into the Asian market.
Saltagen’s investments will focus on tech startups primarily across education, media, health and clean technology. HelpWear is a health technology startup incubated at Velocity, Creative Destruction Lab West, and most recently, Y-combinator.
A celebratory reception was held at a nearby venue to welcome the many guests who came together to support and congratulate the Fung family in the new venture. Included were top level supporters from China, Hong Kong and Canada’s key venture-support institutions including the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Cyberport, InvestHK, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, British Columbia Trade and Investment Office, Legend Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada, Canada’s Federal Trade Commissioners’ Office, Hong Kong Business Angel Network, Simon Fraser University, Waterloo University, McGill University and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Opening the speeches at the reception Dr. Thomas Fung explained, “this very event signifies the culmination of what my family built almost seventy years ago. At the heart of this are two factors: giving communities back what they have given us throughout our history, and planting the seeds of growth for another seventy years.”
Present also were representatives from Canadian startups which as Joseph pointed out, “reminds us of why we are opening this lab in the first place.” Joseph went on to explain the name Saltagen. Its root word is saltation, meaning abrupt evolution, terminology frequently used in the context of biology and geology. With early stage venture ecosystems, Joseph identifies more shared similarities with biology than finance and so the name Saltagen was chosen to describe the venture’s focus on the cultivation of abrupt evolutionary processes.
Mr. Jeff Nankivell, Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao exhibited the support of the Consulate General of Canada to Saltagen Ventures in aiding its collaboration with Canadian partners. Mr. Peter Mok, Head of Incubation of Hong Kong Science and Technology Park welcomed Saltagen to the Hong Kong ecosystem, and is looking forward to working closely with Saltagen in supporting startups from Canada to land and grow in Hong Kong
Throughout the afternoon, the guests enjoyed the hospitality of Saltagen while mingling and connecting with friends and peers from both Hong Kong and Canada venture ecosystems, exactly what Saltagen sets out to do.
