5 Questions with Vincent De Saint-Exupery, Founder of LCCS

October 13, 2014 by StartupsHK

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After 15 years working in Spain, France, the US and Hong Kong in the international development consulting space, Vincent De Saint-Exupery quit his job and launched his first startup in 2007 – Catapulte. His startup’s aim was to provide startups or larger firms with local subsidiaries a full suite of administrative, accounting and legal services to help in their local and regional developments.

From Catapulte came Ecclesia, a SaaS startup that collects, manages and stores data for limited companies in Hong Kong. In his latest venture, De Saint-Exupery continued on his quest to provide companies with a low-cost, web-based secretarial service solution called LCCS, which is geared towards startups or big companies looking to expand in Asia.

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Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Catapulte, Ecclesia, LCCS, Vincent De Saint-Exupery

Ambi Labs Launches Kickstarter Campaign to Ramp Up Beta Testing For Its Smart Air Conditioning Device

October 7, 2014 by Iris Leung

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For those that have a love-hate relationship with their air conditioning unit, Ambi Climate is now available on Kickstarter. (Visit their campaign here.)

Billing themselves as the tamer of unruly A/C units that literally run hot and cold, Ambi is an internet of things device that customizes your indoor climate based on your preferences.

Besides (machine) learning from your daily routine, Ambi also takes into consideration the outdoor environment such as sunlight, temperature and humidity – all elements that can affect your home. As air conditioning usage often accounts for about 50% of your bill, bringing Ambi into your home could cut down on one third of those energy costs.

This isn’t Ambi’s first time at the crowdfunding rodeo. Back in July, the Hong Kong startup launched their maiden campaign on Singaporean platform Crowdtivate to reach out to backers in the Asia-Pacific region. “We went into Crowdtivate as a bit of an experiment,” said co-founder and CEO Julian Lee. “Our product has the challenge where we’re targeting an Asian audience, which is why we went with an Asian platform hoping we could get some exposure in Asia.”

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Ambi Climate, Crowdfunding, Julian Lee, Kickstarter

PolyU Micro Fund Backs 20 Student Startup Teams with a Seed Investment of HK $100,000

October 6, 2014 by Iris Leung

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The ‘PolyU Micro Fund 2014’ awards ceremony last week honored teams of students for their startup projects.

Operating under the ‘Do Well, Do Good’ theme, the fund is meant to encourage students towards social entrepreneurship or to build projects with sustainable community impact. The fund is open to teams with at least one member that is a current PolyU student or graduate. This year, 20 winners within the ‘Entrepreneurship Stream’ were gifted a seed investment of HK $100,000.

Since the program’s inception in 2011, the fund has already invested HK $4 million into the program and 50% of student teams have gone onto secure further funding and incubation support of HK $20 million.

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: PolyU Micro Fund, Raymond Chu, STEFG-PolyU China Entrepreneurship Fund
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