Hong Kong — November 6, 2015– Microsoft supports The SuperCharger – Microsoft Hong Kong is committed to empowering innovative entrepreneurs around the world on their journeys to build great businesses. Microsoft has had a long history of investing in local startup ecosystem, through a global program called Microsoft BizSpark.
Microsoft BizSpark helps startups succeed by giving them free access to tools, resources, knowledge and expertise their needs at every stage of maturity. Startups that are privately held, less than 5 years old, and earn less than USD$1M annually are qualified for this program. In turn, the qualified startups will receive up to USD$750 per month of free Microsoft Azure cloud services for 3 years: that’s USD$150 per month each for up to 5 developers. With Microsoft Azure, startups can work with a gallery of open-source technologies, such as Linux, Ruby, Python, Java and PHP, on Windows, iOS, Linux and more. BizSpark puts all Microsoft developments and test software including Azure, Windows and Office 365 at startups’ fingertips, with an aim to help them overcome the challenges of building a sustainable business, gaining customers, and scaling to regional or even global markets.
“BizSpark helps startups by providing them with access to Microsoft software at the most critical times of their development,” said Horace Chow, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong. “We believe that by helping startups succeed, we are building valuable long-term partnerships, and together, we can promote the development of a more vibrant global software economy. We are excited to join forces with SuperCharger to help local startups to grow and expand their innovative businesses into regional, and eventually, global markets.”
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About our Supporting Organization:
Strategically located in Hong Kong, the SuperCharger is the first FinTech accelerator program dedicated to both startups and more established global FinTech companies aiming to capture the Asian growth market. The program leverages on Hong Kong’s traditional strength as Asia’s finance and technology gateway.
Globally, FinTech investment reached over US$ 12billion in 2014. Specifically in the Asia Pacific region, investment growth is expected to be the highest in the world. Hong Kong will capture a large share of this growing market and is already leading the way, with the government recently reporting over 74 Hong Kong based FinTech companies of which 41 are ranked in the world’s top 100.
The SuperCharger name stands for a vision. A supercharger is a technology used in engines that increases their power and efficiency. The company brings this technology to accelerators and will provide startups the horse-power to boost their growth into the world’s most dynamic FinTech market.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Hong Kong was established in 1991.
For more information on Microsoft Hong Kong, please visit www.microsoft.com.
