WHub.io is Hong Kong’s biggest startup community, showcasing more than 75% of Hong Kong’s startups on its platform and helping them to connect to the resources they need to scale their business. It also hosts an increasing number of HK subsidiaries from startups around the globe eager to expand to Asia.
WHub is based on 3 pillars:
- Connecting the Community – Connecting startups with other startups, corporates, universities, government, accelerators, incubators and investors,
- Recruitment : Showcasing Job Opportunities and Talent and organizing Job Fairs for Startups and Talent
- Education – Event organizers, supporter of global conferences and publisher/editor of white papers on the HK Startup Ecosystem and HK FinTech Ecosystem
Fascinating Journey of WHub
WHub’s tagline is #StartupPassion – as WHub’s mission and passion is to help startups innovate and scale, as well as to foster the growth of the entire ecosystem. Set-up to connect startups to the resources, know-how and visibility needed to raise capital, create employment and build innovation, startups showcase on WHub not only their products and services, but moreover their most important asset: Their Mission, #Passion and Team. Founded in Hong Kong, the platform went live with a jobs board to help startups recruit and gain visibility. The services quickly expanded and now offer a full range of connecting startups to all resources and ecosystem stakeholders, on-line and/or via off-line events, as well as to different ecosystems globally. This includes corporates, investors, government organizations, universities and main stream media.
Proud moments of WHub
WHub startups, corporate clients, investors and other stakeholders recognize the company for making a true difference in providing quality access to resources and the ecosystem in a most effective, efficient and transparent way. Startups have found a way to meet their increasing recruiting demands and fundraising support. Corporates can co-innovate or unleash their innovative power within the organization. WHub and its founders have been and continuously are showcased through media, events and organizations. Recognitions include the Talent Unleashed Award by Richard Branson, Women of Hope Award, 10 Best Female Entrepreneurs of the World award by True Global Ventures and strategic partnerships with leading startup accelerators, organizations and events locally and globally.
Leaders of WHub
Karena Belin, Co-Founder and Director of WHub, is a pillar of the Hong Kong Startup scene and passionate about technology, entrepreneurship and fostering the ecosystem. She is active as speaker, mentor and judge at international events and acceleration programs (WebSummit, RISE, Tech Open Air, Chicago Booth GNVC, Google EYE, Techstars, global Merlin YPO program and others). In Asia for over 13 years, she had worked previously 15 years for Procter&Gamble in various roles throughout Finance, Sales, Strategy and Management across Europe, North East Asia and Greater China.
Karen Contet Farzam Co-Founder and Director of WHub is passionate about Technology and Startups, co-founder of WHub.io, Hong Kong biggest startup community and a founding board member of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong. Karen is an international speaker (Vivatech, RISE, JSConf), a French Foreign Trade Advisor, ambassador of the FrenchTech, community leader for Techstars and mentor for several accelerator programs. Karen has been working in Asia for 13 years, starting in Tokyo as JP Morgan Exotic Equity Derivatives Trader to Software Engineer for an IoT Startup and teaching Front-End Web Development.
A Significant Contribution of WHub to the industry
On WHub, startups sign up to:
- Gain visibility. WHub reports weekly on startup news in the region. WHub also issues whitepapers on the ecosystem to highlight trends, startups, news, community builders, active investors, programs and events.
- Recruit talent via the on-line platform or off-line Job Fairs.
- Connect to the resources available, be it blog posts, event calendar, services at preferential terms, education material and more.
Corporates leverage WHub to connect to startups and the ecosystem to innovate through Hackathons, Open Innovation Challenges or startup competitions. They learn how to unlock the innovative power inside the company through top executive seminars, workshops and co-learning programs such as incubation or acceleration programs. Investors leverage WHub to connect to the ecosystem and find startups looking to raise capital. National (StartMeUp Festival, Entrepreneurs Day) and international (RISE, Tech Open Air, VivaTech, Slush, Tech Sauce) event organizers look for partnerships with WHub to gain more exposure to startups and connect different ecosystems with each other.
Challenges that are faced by WHub
The biggest challenge was exactly the crusade the WHub team set out to tackle: Visibility of and Trust in the local startup scene. Promoting the innovative power, attracting resources – be it talent, investment, business partnerships with larger corporations, media – and building trust is something that could only grow over time. Working against the odds, confronting the impossible and staying the course required a sense of deep purpose, dedication and healthy dose of irrationalism.
Future Footsteps in WHub
WHub is looking forward to scaling regionally and globally. Given the strategic position in the heart of Asia, next to China and the Pearl River Delta – the manufacturing powerhouse, in 5 hours flight radius of half of the world’s population and part of the Greater Bay Area (Guangdong, Macao and Hong Kong), WHub will play an important role of helping startups expand into Asia and Hong Kong based startups scale globally.
