With more than 9,000 high-rise buildings, Hong Kong is one of the most densely built cities on the planet.
For Tony Ip, a Canadian entrepreneur and Co-Founder of RaSpect, that presented an opportunity to modernize the way these buildings are inspected and maintained.
“People are spending so much money, resources, and time on building inspections,” said Ip. “In large cities like Hong Kong, where infrastructure is consistently aging, it’s important to keep up with proper maintenance.”
“We’ve always looked at the US as an opportunity, but it’s a big world, and Asia is obviously a very big market.”
David Kwok, YSpace
RaSpect replaces manual inspections with AI-powered analysis. The startup uses drones to capture images and video, which are then analyzed to generate insights for predictive maintenance. The platform helps property owners meet government safety standards while building smarter, greener, and safer cities.
Since launching in Hong Kong in 2017, RaSpect has earned multiple accolades and worked with several organizations that foster international business connections, including InvestHK to support with securing a low, simple tax structure, streamlined company registration, and Cyberport, one of the city’s leading tech and AI accelerators.
With support from Cyberport and YSpace, York University’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub, Ip is now leading RaSpect’s expansion into North America, tapping into a market that’s home to the thousands of high-rise buildings. And Toronto and York Region are their first stops outside of Asia.
RaSpect’s entry into Canada aligns with a larger strategy underway at the Canadian accelerator. Through cross-border partnerships and targeted support, YSpace is building the infrastructure that bridges Canadian tech to the world.
Toronto’s vertical landscape, combined with an active innovation ecosystem and supportive public policy, offered the structural and institutional footing RaSpect needed to move with intent. Its location also opened access to key North American corridors without the intensity of a US launch.
Joining the community at YSpace also felt like a natural fit, especially as the organization works to strengthen its ties to Asia’s tech ecosystems.
Earlier this year, YSpace led a delegation of investors and startups to Hong Kong to build cross-border partnerships and create new opportunities for collaboration. The goal was to open doors for Canadian startups in Hong Kong, and vice versa.
That visit led to a formal partnership between YSpace and Cyberport, giving Cyberport startups access to YSpace’s Technology Accelerator and up to $300,000 HKD (approximately $52,000 CAD) in financial support to prepare for the Canadian market.
David Kwok, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at YSpace, described the program as “almost risk-free” for international founders.
“It creates an opportunity for them to explore the Canadian market with one of Ontario’s premier innovation hubs,” he said. “And to do a soft landing where we already have a strong track record with startups from Hong Kong and South Korea.”
For Ip, the partnership has provided a smooth entry into the Canadian tech ecosystem. He described the YSpace community as his “Hong Kong family in Toronto.”
YSpace has already supported over 1,400 companies with dedicated programming, mentorship, networks, leadership development, and more. For RaSpect, that support has extended to office space, access to events, and a dedicated program manager to help open doors.
Ip is now working to incorporate RaSpect in Canada, secure new projects, and raise capital, efforts already in motion thanks to connections made through YSpace.
With the US navigating trade tensions on multiple fronts, international companies are now reconsidering their entry points into North America. For many, Canada offers a more stable path to global expansion.
“Canada and Hong Kong have a historically long relationship built on solid economic and cultural ties,” said Christopher Chen, Head of InvestHK Canada, a government-supported organization that helps businesses set up or expand in Hong Kong.
“With a large Canadian presence in Hong Kong, and an equally prominent Hong Kong presence in Canada, it’s important for each jurisdiction to recognize each other’s technological innovations and build on them.”
Looking ahead, YSpace wants to deepen its global impact by establishing a satellite hub in Hong Kong, helping more Canadian companies land overseas, and more Hong Kong startups go global.
“I think now more than ever, we need Canadian companies to start expanding globally,” said Kwok. “We’ve always looked at the US as an opportunity, but it’s a big world, and Asia is obviously a very big market. This is part of YSpace’s big vision to power Canadian companies that are too bold for one market to achieve global scale.”
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All photos provided by YSpace.