Lai See | Australian suitor buys Hong Kong dating start-up Kiss Hugs

Whenever you hear talk about Hong Kong and technology start-ups, there is usually a sniffy response from some quarters with people saying Hong Kong is a user of technology rather than an initiator.

Kiss Hugs is a mobile dating app founded by American Roger Blackstein, who spent two years working in Hong Kong and is now based in the United States. The site was launched in November 2013 and Hong Kong-based angel investor Bigcolors took a 12.5 per cent stake in the company a month later, providing most of its seed capital. It has provided technical support and helped develop the app.

With the sale of Kiss Hugs, Bigcolors has made a return of 5.6 times on its investment in the space of a year. It follows the sale of Taxiwise early last year, in which the company made a return of 22 times on its investment.

"This latest sale is very exciting because it shows that our model is working and that Hong Kong start-ups are attracting big money," said James Giancotti, a co-founder of Bigcolors, which attracts funds from investors and then looks for start-up projects in which to invest. "The idea is to buy into companies, grow them, make them successful and sell them."

People talk a lot in the start-up business about getting hold of money, but selling is another matter. "When there's a sale, people go 'OK, so there's actually money to be made in this business as well as to be spent'," said Giancotti.