For digital and tech startups looking for a home, Cyberport has just opened the doors to its new co-working space.
The 27,000 square feet Smart-Space 3F is a stunning government facility that has the capability of housing 134 startups. Smart-Space 3F has 46 offices ranging from 2-12 person occupancy, 32 flexi-spaces (hot desks) and 24 work stations (dedicated desks).
Besides boasting a panoramic sea view, 3F’s affordable prices are another attractive feature. Two-seater offices go for HK $5,000/month, larger offices average $2,500/month per room seat (depending on size), dedicated desks are at $1,500/month while hot desks will only set tenants back $800/month.
“It’s ideal for a very, very early stage startup. Local startups and overseas entry companies are our target markets,” said Cyberport’s COO Mark Clift. “Overseas companies want to expand to Asia and they’re attracted by the China market. For a lot of companies, it’s difficult because they don’t understand China and they’re weary of long term commitments – so the flexi-space gives them a good entry point.”
Mark said that besides helping local startups, Cyberport’s focus is largely on bringing overseas entrepreneurs to Hong Kong. And he heads up the international outreach himself by doing four road shows a year, each one spanning two weeks.
“My last trip was to Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal, Vancouver and New York – I’ll go wherever there’s a strong tech community that wants to expand into Asia,” he said. “One thing we’ve seen is that companies want to go to Asia much earlier in their life cycle.” Besides North America, Mark has also travelled to Western Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand to reach out to startups and said that Hong Kong and Singapore is seen as an entry point to Asia.
More than just a desk to park your laptop at, Smart-Space tenants can also tap into the Cyberport community for support – such as accountants who have worked with startups before and law firms specializing in intellectual property. Also, if startups want to move into China or Silicon Valley – Cyberport can help via its Shanghai office and annual US delegations.
As it’s no secret that Cyberport’s location has been a bit of a deterrent for some, we had a chat with Smart-Space 3F tenant Atin Batra to find out how long it takes him to get to the office every day. The founder of digital marketing studio ‘ab Initio,’ Atin is also one of the Hong Kong chapter heads for Startup Grind.
He says that commute time from the MTR can range anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on where on the Island Line you are based. While a mini-bus ride (#69) from Quarry Bay can take about 40 minutes, trips from Causeway Bay (#69x) and Central’s Exchange Square (#30x double decker) takes approximately 20-30 minutes respectively.
Although he says not all his clients are willing to make the trip out to Cyberport, Atin said that it just requires clever calendar management on his part – and swears by the 30x bus to Central as a lifeline. Having been a Smart-Space tenant for six months, Atin cites the spacious meeting rooms, free gym membership, affordable prices (for more square footage) and ample patio spaces as reasons to work at Cyberport.
If you want to take a tour of the new Smart-Space, it’s located at Cyberport 3 in Core F up on the 9th floor.
Panoramic shots of Smart-Space 3F:
Too much pool table and not enough ping pong… Nice looking space though! Any chance this could be the first government co-working space to be dog friendly? **Of course dog interviews are required**
If they do we should really start on building out this idea of ours, LinkedIn for dogs!