Earlier this year, Cyberport led a delegation of Hong Kong startups to the US where they got to check out Silicon Valley’s culture and mingle with their investors and entrepreneurs. This time, the US is coming to us.
Dallas-based B2B seed accelerator Tech Wildcatters will be visiting Hong Kong to get to know our startup scene – and we’ll be hosting a meetup at Garage Society for them this Tuesday from 7-9pm.
Globestart, which is their international initiative, has been bringing their US startups to Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Berlin and London to bridge connections and create a soft landing for companies interested in those markets. Now, they’re looking to Hong Kong and Singapore.
The idea is to facilitate an exchange between the east and the west. While Hong Kong can offer support in the way of helping American startups launch and set up offices, our entrepreneurs can expect the same kind of hospitality from Dallas and their network throughout the US.
We had a chat with Gabriella Draney, co-founder and CEO of Tech Wildcatters. Draney is not only one of the most active driving forces behind Dallas’ tech scene, but she is also a pioneer in the accelerator space. When she started Tech Wildcatters in 2010, there were only a handful of accelerator programs in the world – compared to the thousands that exist today.
As there seems to be an influx of accelerator programs (three new Hong Kong ones in 2014 alone!), Draney said that there’s definitely a demand as startups will always need access to resources and capital. “Accelerators are a much better model in my opinion than incubators were, because they’re playing in the best interest of the startup,” she said. “It’s in our best interest to invest, push them forward and make them big, versus keeping them small and in the incubator forever. We want the turnover.”
After Hong Kong, Draney and her team will also be stopping off in Singapore to explore the tech scene there – and are interested in planning trips to India, Australia and Japan in the future. The forward-thinking Globestart wants to help US startups who want to link up with Asian supply chain partners, development talent and the growing consumer market. As the world grows more interconnected, startups can become more location-independent.
“The vision around the concept is that all startups can be global, and that the startup community is a global one – it’s not just Silicon Valley and the US,” said Draney. “And it’s our way of connecting the different cities’ ecosystems so people have better access to the resources that they need when they need them.”
Applications for Globestart’s US immersion program are now open, where startups from around the world have the opportunity to meet with mentors, investors and entrepreneurs in Dallas and downtown Las Vegas from January 19-29, 2015.
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