MaRS and Cyberport partner to bridge markets in Asia and Canada for FinTech startups

MaRS Discovery District and Cyberport, a Hong Kong-based innovation hub, announced a new partnership that will focus on fostering FinTech innovation and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Canada.

“Hong Kong is a regional hub for the banking industry, the gateway to Mainland China and a centre for technology.”

Together, Cyberport and MaRS are working to identify business acceleration opportunities for ventures from both hubs, facilitate relationships with the financial industry in Canada and Hong Kong, and enable collaboration on joint entrepreneurship programs focused on FinTech, wearables, big data, and payment technologies.

“A global network is essential for the success of our startups, which are looking to scale and grow,” said Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS. “Hong Kong is a regional hub for the banking industry, the gateway to Mainland China and a centre for technology. This partnership will provide great opportunities for high-potential Canadian FinTech startups to collaborate with international financial institutions and investors.”

Herman Lam, CEO of Cyberport, said that Hong Kong’s status as an international FinTech centre and its robust startup ecosystem provides advantages for startups looking to break into the global markets.

Collaboration between two global innovation hubs .@cyberport_hk .@MaRSDD we launch #FinTech tomorrow .@aronsolomon pic.twitter.com/5ui2QVqQcM

— Adam Nanjee (@adamnyyz) November 10, 2015

“Like MaRS’ financial technology cluster, FinTech is also one of Cyberport’s key focus areas with local and overseas startups striving to achieve success and expand globally,” he said. “The FinTech community definitely has the advantage of being able to join forces with like-minded talents and leverage the wealth of financial knowledge here. Through our collaboration with MaRS and our global network, these entrepreneurs can leap onto the world stage armed with deeper insight into the FinTech market and ample business opportunities.”