Hong Kong Startup Council, under the auspices of Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), held the STARS Pitch today (Friday) and invited the first cohort of STARS Programme to pitch their disruptive products, services and business models.

The Council Vice-Chairman Jason Chiu said, “The Council launched STARS Programme in January this year to provide local startups with mentoring advice, industrial partnership and go-to-market support to accelerate their business growth. Joining the Council will be a critical step for them as it will act as a catalyst to speed up the development of their existing innovation, prototypes or products.”

With the first cohort of STARS Programme is themed the Internet of Things (IoT), members have already been paired with suitable mentors for support and guidance in areas of prototyping, design, production, marketing, business operation and more.

Mr Chiu continued, “Apart from business support, startups also need to establish their own networks through different channels. STARS Pitch for example, is a valuable opportunity for them to promote themselves and exchange their concepts and experience with other people in the business sector to seek further co-operation opportunities. These exchanges will enable startups to acquire latest updates of the industry in order to adjust their go-to-market strategies and grasp the actual market situation.”

Seven startups demonstrated their products and shared with the media their entrepreneurial concepts, operational challenges, and the support they can receive from the STARS Programme. They include:

1. aniWEAR Co Limited provides innovative sensing solution and AI analytics to offer customers access to physiological data such as health, behaviour and mood without direct skin contact and could be applied to pet physiological sensing, unobtrusive wearables and smart home sensing for human;
2. Auvi Entertainment Inc Limited utilises core technologies in hardware and software to provide revolutionary and reliable wireless streaming solutions, including the APU (Auvi Processing Unit) and Auvi APPs that help minimise the distortion of music quality during the transmission from on-line to off-line;
3. Bonnect (HK) Limited’s first product Feedi Baby is a smart baby bottle dock which records, analyses and facilitates baby growth by automatic diet logging, supported by App Feedi for parents to capture other data on baby demographics and growth patterns;
4. Dragon Creative Enterprise Solution Limited develops the MAD Gaze smart glasses that are compatible with the complete ecosystem, the AR Cloud, to free up users’ hands while recording, navigating and translation;
5. Kuaiwear Limited develops KuaiFit Wearable Coach Headphones that automatically adapt sport and fitness training plans to individuals and provide smart voice coaching via accurate sensors, patented technology and proprietary software algorithms; and KuaiFit Marketplace, an online platform for sport and fitness training plans;
6. Peacify Limited presents a healthcare wearable that monitors baby’s vital signs including blood oxygen level, heart rate and temperature and alerts their parents to abnormalities for preemptive actions to safeguard their child; and
7. The Contact Store Limited’s proprietary technology “Smart Brewing Technology” (SBT) provides users the best brewing experience with seamless integration of API, APP and big data analysis to customise their preferred taste by adjusting different parameters.

The Council also invited Mettā Managing Partner Tony Verb, OurCrowd Australia and Asia Partner & Managing Director Dan Bennett and TiEHK Board Member Emanuel Breiter to join the judging panel for the Most Disruptive STAR and Rising STAR awards.

Mr Chiu added that the Council plans to organise a demo day in September for startups to showcase their achievements and to entice more investment from FHKI members and startup investors. By means of investment or collaboration with startups, industrialists also get the chance to transform and upgrade their traditional operations, develop new businesses and operating models.