StartupsHK Presents ‘Startups of Future Past’ – a Stroll Down Hong Kong Startup Memory Lane on 12 November

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Whether you were in Hong Kong when BootHK first arrived on the scene, or showed up and had over 20 to choose from – you’re still here to witness the rapid growth of our young and promising startup scene.

Which is why we’re celebrating 5 years of trials and tribulations with Hong Kong’s tech movers and shakers, the hottest startups of 2014 and pioneers that have been here from the very beginning. Our ‘Startups of Future Past’ event on Wednesday, November 12th will not only make some of our seasoned entrepreneurs nostalgic and but also treat newcomers to a little Hong Kong startup scene history.

In the morning panel, we’ll be taking a stroll down memory lane with six startup pioneers – so in anticipation of that chat, we asked them: “what was the biggest highlight for you in the past 5 years?”

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Hong Kong Startup Vet Michael Michelini Announces SocialAgent.me Acquisition

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Social Agent, a SaaS lead generation platform, has been sold to software development startup Unchained Apps. As the web-based connector of businesses and freelance sales agents, Social Agent helps global SMEs tap into foreign markets by connecting them with local sales and marketing professionals.

According to Social Agent’s CEO and co-founder Michael Michelini, the merger is “a true synergy” and customers can look forward to an improved mobile platform as the Unchained Apps development team is brought on board.

The deal, which has been in works since April, benefits both Hong Kong/Shenzhen-based startups as both bring complementary expertise to the table. “Unchained Apps is heavy on product development, but lacking in marketing and Social Agent is on the other side of that – so the teams make a nice match,” he said. “For the Social Agent product, it has evolved from a web app to a mobile app. Most of our team is web developers and has always been weak on mobile app development, so immediately we will see improvements in the mobile app functionality and features.”

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Stephen Forte is Living the Dream: From AcceleratorHK to Mach5 to Multi-million Dollar Acquisition and Driving a Tesla

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Although they’ve left Hong Kong, some entrepreneurs continue giving back to our startup scene – just like AcceleratorHK’s Stephen Forte.

Although he’s taken Hong Kong’s first accelerator with him to Palo Alto, Forte is still backing our startups as one of Fresco Capital Advisors’ venture partners – and is also a mentor for Swire Properties’ new B2B accelerator program ‘blueprint.’

As a part of Forte’s role as Telerik’s chief strategy officer, which just got acquired by ‘Progress Software’ for US $262.5 million, he mentors startups on a daily basis and brings them on as partners if they’re in the programming tool business. According to Forte, the developer ecosystem for Telerik’s new mobile development platform was first tested in Hong Kong via AcceleratorHK.

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