Companies see HK as gateway for Asian expansion
Local and overseas entrepreneurs are looking to strike new deals at a business matchmaking event at the Asian Financial Forum in Wan Chai. More than 400 projects are pitched to 200 investors from equity firms or family offices at the deal-making session.  One start-up, a Finnish cybersecurity firm called Qatalis, is seeking 50 million euros in funding to expand its operations in Hong Kong, the mainland and other Asian markets.  The company's representative, Jari Vepsalainen, said its AI-powered solutions will help combat data hacks or fake information, adding that it hopes to attract 10,000 local customers within three years.  “Hong Kong has a very good environment for developing technologies. We believe that we can bring European expertise, especially from North Europe to Hong Kong, and expand to the mainland,”  he said.   Another Finnish entrepreneur, Jouni Jaaskelainen, who runs an industrial wastewater treatment company, wants to set up a technology centre in Hong Kong to analyse wastewater from different countries.  The company has previously set up operations in Zhejiang, Beijing and Shenzhen. “We have roughly 15 to 16 different kinds of investors meeting at the deal-making area, which is a rather big amount of meetings for two days. So it will be really active and exciting,” he said. Nanjing-based startup MesionTech, which develops semiconductors for augmented and virtual reality devices, sees Hong Kong as an ideal place to attract international venture capital.  “The chips being used for AR or VR is a new industry. We really do hope that we can take this chance and have people realise there is a brand new product that can change the future or can make our life better. It’s just happening right now,” said Blake Wei, the firm’s product architect. “That's why we want to promote these chips in Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is such a special place focusing on the whole Asia area and even towards the whole world."