Hong Kong will launch a HK$5 billion (US$637 million) fund to support startups seeking to reach unicorn status, the city’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said.

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Fast facts

• The government hopes to use the Strategic Tech Fund to fill the gaps between Series A and B startup financing and persuade investors to back Hong Kong tech entrepreneurs, Chan said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

• The tech fund was first brought up in Hong Kong’s yearly budget speech in February, as a part of the HK$22.4 billion investment vehicle “Hong Kong Growth Portfolio.”

• The Hong Kong Growth Portfolio is a fund with similarities to Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with aims to enhance fields such as financial services and innovation, and is part of a “Future Fund” established by the local government in 2015 with an allocation of over HK$200 billion.

• Hong Kong is home to over 600 FinTech companies, with 7% of them in the blockchain sector, according to local government data.

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