You’ve no doubt heard of SAFE and KISS – but when you need something for Hong Kong we now have something for us specifically.
Check out the free documents to use for investors, for IP and for more at Seedsummit.org – the people behind it are great and we are supporting this initiative and would love for you to be able to use them when starting your startup.
The official press release is below or you can read the SCMP story about it here.
International law firm Bird & Bird today announced the official launch of the Seedsummit initiative and website on the Hong Kong market. Comprised in partnership with UK first round fund Seedcamp and Hong Kong entrepreneurial community blueprint by Swire Properties, Seedsummit Hong Kong aims to create transparency in the Hong Kong startup ecosystem and positively impact local founders with simplified information they can utilise to educate them through their investment process.
Hong Kong and Chinese investment into entrepreneurship over recent years has fuelled record growth in Hong Kong’s small business sector. Raising funds and creating the necessary legal frameworks can often prove to become an overwhelming effort for a new entrepreneur due to the time, costs and ambiguity over the investment process. While investors in the form of global venture capital, private investment funds and Angels know what to expect, most entrepreneurs go through this process only a few times in their career and experience challenges when faced with investor negotiations and legal agreements.
The startup ecosystem of Hong Kong, comprised of players ranging from active investors through to co-working communities where startups base their businesses, have gathered in support of the Seedsummit initiative and the transparency it provides for entrepreneurs and founders in the region. Over 20 companies and organisations so far have voiced support for the initiative, with notable endorsements from Outblaze, Animoca Brands, BraveSoldier Venture Capital, Zeroth A.I., Big Bloom, 43 Ventures, Fresco Capital, Rouge Partners, Founders Institute, Vectr Ventures, W-Hub, Startups HK, Firestartr, Brinc, Cocoon Ignite Ventures, AtVenture, Startup Garage, SXE Ventures, Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, actiMirror, Jobdoh, Talkpush and Jobable.
Seedsummit website is proud to offer the set of Hong Kong’s specific suggested, reader-friendly and standard financing guideline documents freely available to visitors of the site helping investors and entrepreneurs in the region by providing a framework for seed stage investment agreements.
By providing documents ranging from a founder’s agreement to investor term sheets, the intent is to help both seed stage investors and startups by allowing them to operate in a fast, fair and affordable way. blueprint’s community of 60+ entrepreneurial companies, located within the vibrant business community of Taikoo Place amongst creative agencies, technology companies and multi-national corporations, is pleased to adopt the usage of Seedsummit documents in better preparing founders for future legal agreements and investor negotiations.
Seedsummit Hong Kong’s freely available documents can now be downloaded from www.seedsummit.org
“We work closely with Hong Kong tech entrepreneurs every day and self-help legal documents are a constant problem. Downloaded from the internet, these are often intended for use elsewhere and they just don’t work in Hong Kong. We wanted to do something to help the community on this.”
“These documents have been prepared with Hong Kong in mind and represent the terms we regularly see in the work we do in the market. It’s not the finishing line, it’s the starting point and founders will still need help to get to the finishing line on their investment rounds. But a better starting point for all makes it cheaper, faster, and simpler for founders, investors and yes, lawyers too. Remember these documents do not replace legal advice, nor do they represent a “sign here” final product. Instead, they put founders on the front foot, facing forward.” – Padraig Walsh, Partner, Bird & Bird
“During several visits to Hong Kong, we’ve been struck by the growth of the Hong Kong entrepreneurial and investment scene and how it has matured. By bringing the Hong Kong players to reach a common agreement for the benefit of the entrepreneur we hope to save founders time and money and to ensure that the funds they are raising are used for the most important thing: building their business.” – Carlos Espinal, Partner, Seedcamp
“The founder experience has been a complex and challenging journey. Similar to many entrepreneurs in the city, we are laser focused on building our business, often devoting less time to learn about and navigate the complicated and diverse fundraising world, which differ greatly from region to region but also between investors.
I intend to use these documents, akin to an encyclopedia of investment terms, to better prepare for upcoming investment round discussions on topics such as valuation, rights of share classes and more.” – Xania Wong, Founder, Jobdoh and resident entrepreneur at blueprint by Swire Properties.
