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Greater Bay Area: Alibaba backs HK$2 billion fund for start-ups in and around Hong Kong
- The Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund will be an anchor investor in a new fund focusing on Greater Bay Area start-ups
- The Chinese e-commerce giant said the fund will help start-ups to access Alibaba’s resources
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Alibaba Group Holding’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF) will be an anchor investor in a HK$2 billion (US$257 million) fund to support start-ups in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of Hong Kong, Macau as well as parts of Guangdong province in a vote of confidence for Hong Kong’s role in promoting entrepreneurship in the region.
The AEF Greater Bay Area Fund (GBA Fund) will target start-ups in the region that focus on sustainability, deep tech, health tech, artificial intelligence, automation and digital transformation of traditional manufacturing, according to a company statement on Tuesday.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
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“We started AEF five years ago with the vision to invigorate the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Hong Kong,” said Joe Tsai, executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group and chairman of Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. “We are now ready to extend our start-up ecosystem to the Greater Bay Area to give innovators and entrepreneurs a bigger platform for growth.”
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The Chinese e-commerce giant said the fund, which is also supported by limited partners including financial institutions, family offices and conglomerates, among others, is expected to close the final funding in the first half of 2022 and will help start-ups to access Alibaba’s resources.
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