Skip to main content
bayhub.hk
Industry Guides

Your first year in Hong Kong · Tech founders

The first-year checklist for a tech founder landing in Hong Kong: visa → incorporate and open an account → get funding → win institutional clients → run Shenzhen and Hong Kong in parallel → join the community. Honest expectations: visa fast, account-opening slow, funding 3–6 months, closing sales six months to a year and a half. The first year's focus is fundraising + institutional clients + community, not local retail.

This fits you if

You want to build a tech company in Hong Kong and need a visa, funding, access to institutional clients, and a way into the community.

This is not for you if

You are in trade / food and beverage / professional services / purely mainland business — follow the matching industry guide; the doors and the order differ.

Key figures
Time expectations per step
Visa relatively fast; account-opening slow

(leave time for it); funding mostly 3–6 months and up; sales (to institutions) six months to a year and a half[待核]

Visa / status → incorporate and open an account → get funding → find customers / make sales → run cross-border in parallel → join the community
How to apply
  1. 0

    Before you come

    Be clear on 'why Hong Kong' (hub / fundraising / going global, not the local market); work out your costs and runway.

    Pitfall: Coming just because 'Hong Kong = opportunity' without working out which of its flows you'll use.

    See:Market overviewMoney

  2. 1

    Visa / status

    Pick a talent scheme (Top Talent Pass / Quality Migrant / Technology Talent), self-check with the matching tool, and submit through the Immigration Department.

    Pitfall: Choosing the wrong visa type or submitting incomplete documents and going back and forth.

    See:People

  3. 2

    Incorporate and open an account

    Decide the company type and holding structure; open a bank account (this is the biggest early bottleneck).

    Pitfall: A virtual address, a rejected account, or an ill-considered structure that hurts later funding eligibility.

    See:Incorporate a Hong Kong companyOpen a corporate bank account

  4. 3

    Get funding

    Work the decision tree by stage — for tech, look at the Science Park (HKSTP) / Cyberport / the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF); for a general business, look at BUD.

    Pitfall: Rushing to apply for funding the moment you land — applying for the wrong ones and missing the right ones.

    See:Government funding overview: which one should you apply for?BUD Fund

  5. 4

    Find customers / make sales

    Treat institutions such as banks / insurers / family offices as your buyers — go through the regulatory sandbox, Open API, CDI, GFT.

    Pitfall: A POC ≠ a contract, cold emails don't work, and procurement compliance is heavy.

    See:Turn banks into your customersBreak into financial institutions via the regulatory sandbox

  6. 5

    Run cross-border in parallel

    Work out how the Shenzhen / Hong Kong entities run in parallel; assess the Qianhai / Hetao breaks.

    Pitfall: Running funds through a personal account, unfiled ODI, or assuming that registering in Qianhai automatically gets you the breaks.

    See:Shenzhen company vs Hong Kong company: how to choose, how to run bothQianhai vs Hetao: how to use the two Shenzhen–Hong Kong low-tax sweet spots

  7. 6

    Join the community

    Join 1–2 of the right chambers / communities and pick the events and matchmaking programmes worth your time — such as FinTech Week, Global Fast Track (InvestHK's expansion matchmaking), HKSTP Global Connect (soft-landing for overseas startups, with a HK$100k grant), and Accenture's FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.

    Pitfall: Casting a wide net into a pile of groups without building any real relationships.

    See:

What the official sites won't tell you

  • Don't rush for funding the moment you land· First-hand insight in the works

    Get clear on your product and lighthouse customer first; funding is a boost, not the goal

  • Account-opening is the biggest early bottleneck· First-hand insight in the works

    The earlier you prepare the documents, the better

  • Hong Kong's local market is small· First-hand insight in the works

    Bet the first year on fundraising, institutional clients, and community — not local retail

  • Government schemes ≠ free money· First-hand insight in the works

    Matching funds, fronting the cash, and completion review all take time and money

Next steps
  1. 01Test your visa: use the talent-scheme matching tool to see which you qualify for in 5 minutes.
  2. 02Book InvestHK: a free one-on-one landing consultation to map out the path first.
  3. 03Start preparing account-opening documents: don't wait until incorporation is done to think about the account.
Related pagesMarket overviewMoneyOpen a corporate bank accountGovernment funding overview: which one should you apply for?Turn banks into your customersShenzhen company vs Hong Kong company: how to choose, how to run both

Sources