8 Securities Has 60,000 Customers, Holds US$1 Billion in Client Assets and is Cash Flow Positive

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Congrats to Mikaal and Mathias at 8 Securities for having CBS MoneyWatch cover their amazing success in such a short time:

“8 Securities believes its technology gives them a cost, scale and speed advantage that traditional financial services companies in Asia will be challenged to match. “The combination of powerful technology and a seamless customer experience across all channels is simply a must for any company that wants a future in Asia,” said Mr. Helleu.

8 Securities’ new frontier is online wealth management. The company is now preparing for the launch of an online wealth management service to compete directly with traditional banks, asset managers and advisors. There are now over 3.4 million high net worth individuals in Asia who hold over $10 trillion USD in assets. “Customers in Asia are evolving quickly but the banks and asset managers that serve them are not. It’s a perfect opportunity to challenge these traditional competitors by radically redefining the user experience and fee structure,” said co founder Mikaal Abdulla.

Looking forward, 8 Securities’ business has the potential to generate over 50% profit margins while reducing the fees charged by its traditional competitors by as much as 90%. “Our future in Asia is very bright. Our growth and the value we generate for our customers are perfectly aligned. We have a very large market opportunity in front of us and a very clear value proposition for our customers,” said Mr. Helleu. “We are actively pursuing new opportunities in China, India and the Middle East. Our technology is flexible enough to service both individual investors and enterprise customers. We are keeping an open mind with respect to how we launch our online trading and wealth management products into these new markets.”

Read the full story here.

Hong Kong Startups Flock to U.S.-based Accelerators

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With only one real accelerator program in Hong Kong (AcceleratorHK focusing mainly on mobile startups, ChinaAccelerator in Dalian and JFDI in Singapore) where is a startup based in Hong Kong to go for seed funding and mentorship?

They go west!

What seems to be a trend nowadays is HK based startups getting into different accelerator programs in the U.S. – which doesn’t seem that surprising seeing as there isn’t much support for brand new startups in Hong Kong financially and

We’ve seen Coachbase get accepted into the TechStars x Nike accelerator, StampUp went to a VC-backed accelerator in San Francisco for their enterprise solution startup, Spottly got into 500 Startups and ZaoZao is going to a NYC-based accelerator for their fashion crowdsourcing site.

[Read more…]

Meet Hong Kong’s Game Developers Community on May 16 at the IGDA Hong Kong May Social Mixer

imageIGDA Hong Kong is hosting the city’s game industry for a night of networking and being social.

Come represent your game or meet the people making the games that you are playing on the MTR every morning! It’s on like Donkey Kong.

  • Date: 7pm – 10pm Thursday 16th May 2013
  • Venue: Xperience (G/F, Asia Orient Tower, 33 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong)

RSVP Here!