Yat Siu, co-founder of locally established Internet community solutions provider Outblaze, has called for greater innovation from the Internet industry in Hong Kong.
The 25-year-old Austria-born Chinese, who set up a software company in the US at the age of 20 and later an Internet community site which he sold for US$5 million, said a lot of home-grown Internet companies were working on a 'me-too' model.
'Hong Kong has seen some exciting growth in the Internet industry and a lot of companies have good ideas, but there is little innovation on a global basis.' His firm, the recent subject of considerable local and international attention, has raised $11 million from two Hong Kong-listed companies in the past four months.
While content and applications created by most local companies are tailored for the SAR and mainland markets, Mr Siu said: 'I believe Hong Kong companies are capable of innovating products that can be brought to the global market.' He said the large number of Internet service providers in the SAR had helped greatly in promoting Internet use.
However, he added: 'Too many of them are doing the same thing.' He said he expected only the large telecommunications operators and well-funded companies, which could afford hefty marketing expenses, would be able to survive in the long term.
Mr Siu has attracted investment of $4 million for a 50 per cent stake in Outblaze from engineering contractor China Rich Holdings in May.
This was followed by a $7 million new shares subscription for a 20 per cent stake from Pacific Century Group's venture capital arm CyberWorksVentures (CWV) last week.
