Applications for Swire Properties’ New B2B Accelerator Program ‘Blueprint’ is Now Open for January 2015 Start

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Having just launched their official website for ‘Blueprint,’ the 20,000 square foot and two-floored co-working, accelerator and event space will be based in Cornwall House in TaiKoo Place. Since Swire is a driving force behind many huge commercial and retail property development projects in Hong Kong, it’s exciting news to see them get behind the tech startup community.

As a B2B-focused accelerator, Blueprint sets itself apart from other programs with it’s no-strings attached approach. Although the program offers workspace, mentorship and professional support in the product testing, customer acquisition and fundraising spheres – it does not require any fees or equity in return.

“We are likely the first accelerator programme in Hong Kong that has no strings attached,” said Don Taylor, office director at Swire Properties, in a release. “This project is about injecting a burst of tech-focused creativity and innovation into the already thriving business community at TaiKoo Place. We’re excited to encourage the entrepreneurship culture here in Quarry Bay and to see these startups grow.”

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The Flipter Story: Born in Hong Kong, Grown at Cyberport, Sold to Silicon Valley

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Flipter, one of Hong Kong’s startup pioneers (and voted one of HK’s Hottest Startups by HK Business), has been acquired by Silicon Valley’s 1World for an undisclosed sum. The deal was announced last week at the annual ‘AlwaysOn OnMedia’ event hosted by NYC’s NASDAQ offices.

While 1World is a top engagement applications and consumer intelligence company with offices in the US, Europe, India and now Latin America, Flipter is a social polling micro-blogging site for users around the world to share and gather opinions. Taking Flipter under their wing will help 1World develop a suite of tools to better understand consumers while upping the ante on engagement and traffic for their digital clients.

Now operating under the 1World Latin America moniker, Flipter’s founder and CEO Salvador de la Barrera (pictured middle in below image) will be heading up growth and sales as the region’s general manager. Besides offering continued support to product teams, de la Barrera will help transition Flipter customers over to 1World’s multi-lingual publisher platform.

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Hong Kong Startup ‘Mailtime’ Officially Launches During TechCrunch Disrupt’s ‘Startup Battlefield’

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You know what’s exciting?

Seeing people you work with leave and go start a startup!

What’s even more exciting, when that person is then on the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt pitching to thousands of people in San Francisco!

Earlier this month, a batch of Hong Kong startups led by the ‘Cyberport Delegation to the US’ stormed San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt. Among them were Notey, GoGoVan, Shopline and Ambi.

Besides rubbing shoulders with Bay Area entrepreneurs and investors, one of our startups seized this opportunity to officially launch their product during ‘Startup Battlefield.’ As the first Hong Kong startup to enter this pitch competition, MailTime unveiled their app to Disrupt conference goers and to the ‘App Store.’ Download it for iOS here!

Founded in late 2013 by Heatherm Huang and Gary Lau (who also built instant voice messager TalkBox), MailTime raised a seed round of US $500,000 from a group of China and Silicon Valley investors in June and our former Girl Friday Charlie Sheng now heads up marketing efforts for them. Having grown the team to six, the SF-based startup is plugging away at an Android version and plan on disrupting email attachments in the very near future.

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