HSBC sets up US$880 million technology fund to find the next Tencent or DJI in southern China’s Greater Bay Area
- The US$880 million GBA+ Technology Fund will provide financing to early stage companies in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China
- Eligible companies will already have received one to two rounds of funding from venture capital or private equity, HSBC said
The GBA+ Technology Fund will focus on lending to high-growth companies in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong in a variety of sectors, including e-commerce, financial technology (fintech), robotics, biotech and health care technology, HSBC said.
“Lending money is not the sole purpose. We want to create a lasting relationship with our customers,” said HSBC’s head of commercial banking in Hong Kong Terence Chiu. “We're not transactional. That's never been our strategy in 154 years.”
The new fund comes as a framework for the Greater Bay Area (GBA) was unveiled in February to better integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province for future development and economic cooperation.
In 2018, the GBA was home to nearly 120 million people and had a combined gross domestic product of US$1.6 trillion, making it larger than Australia if it were a stand-alone economy. The China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a government-affiliated think tank, has estimated that the region’s GDP could exceed US$4 trillion by 2030.