Department of Economic Development

On November 18th 2022, Taipei Entrepreneurs Hub (TEH) held their Demo Day 2.0 during Meet Taipei, inviting 10 international startups that won the two pitch contests previously and 3 local startups to pitch in front of investors and corporate partners on trending topics such as Fintech, Blockchain, ESG, and Web3.

Commissioner of Tapei City Government’s Department of Economic Development Chung-Chieh Lin, President and General Manager of GlobalTown Development Jeff Tsai, Head of Blockchain at Cathay Financial Holdings Nicholas Yang, Chief Investment Officer at Lion Travel Ryan Shen, and the 13 participating startups

The Department of Economic Development at Taipei City Government stated that the “TEH” brand community as a part of “International Startup Soft-landing Program ” is to assist the city's industrial upgrading with key technologies and research and development energy, and to attract international startups to communicate and collaborate with local enterprises. Its primary purposes are to promote Taipei’s startup environment, resources to the global startup community and to strengthen the connections between international startups and enterprises, investors, government, and other related organizations in Taipei. It is hoped that by inviting international startups to Taipei for a Demo Day, the startups could explore potential collaboration opportunities and soft land in Taipei. 

Commissioner Chung-Chieh Lin of the Department of Economic Development welcomed the startups on behalf of the city government. President and General Manager of GlobalTown Development Jeff Tsai, Head of Blockchain at Cathay Financial Holdings Nicholas Yang, Chief Investment Officer at Lion Travel Ryan Shen, and close to a hundred investors, enterprise owners, and startup community partners all attended the event.

Mr. Nicholas Yang said that decentralized technology brings disruptive innovation opportunities to the financial industry, and Blockchain technology is the center of attention these days. Startups bring new business models to the banking industry, creating opportunities for collaboration with Cathay Financial Holdings. He looks forward to working with startups to accelerate the digital transformation of the financial industry. Mr. Jeff Tsai also said that the commercial real estate system is large-scaled and traditional. However, with the rise of the ESG trend, the industry has a strong demand for digital transformation. He looks forward to working with startups for opportunities in the commercial office field. Mr. Ryan Shen believes that after the pandemic, the tourism industry is about to rise and shine. The industry will also take advantage of the situation and get linked up with technological innovations, which will result in a significant impact on the industry. From the Internet to the success of mobile applications, Blockchain and Web3 will become the next turning point. He looks forward to what the startups can contribute to the tourism industry. 

Startups visiting Corporations in Taipei

During their visit to Taiwan, the 10 international startups also expanded the network needed for further development in Taiwan. They also attended startup events and went on corporate visits to obtain the required resources. Among them, Singaporean startup HedgeSPA will locate a team in the city's most prominent startup incubation base t-Hub. The German team MotionsCloud has already accepted invitations from Cathay Financial Holdings and the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS) at National Chiao Tung University to demonstrate their proof of concept (POC) and is in discussion with Lion Travel and GlobalTown to evaluate the feasibility of collaboration. The Japanese startup Tsunagaru Edutech is in communication with Lion Travel about a possible collaboration. The Malaysian startup Soft Solvers Solutions has arranged several meetings with Cathay Financial Holdings to discuss the implementation of POC.

In addition, through the program, startups from Taipei also was able to connect with international startups in the same fields, including potential collaborations between travel tech startup TUBUUD with Like It Formosa and Lion Travel, and prop tech startup Rootie Robot with JGB Smart Property and GlobalTown Development.

In the future, TEH will continue to integrate resources and provide international entrepreneurs with relevant information to expand to Taipei. Follow TEH’s Facebook page and LinkedIn Profile for the latest information!