Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF)

What is ITVF?

The Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF) aims to stimulate private investment in local innovation and technology (I&T) start-ups.

To facilitate monitoring and administration of the ITVF, a company named “The Innovation and Technology Venture Fund Corporation” (ITVFC) has been set up to serve as a special-purpose vehicle to co-invest with the partner venture capital (VC) funds in local I&T start-ups at an overall matching investment ratio of approximately 1 to 2. ITVFC will be a passive investor, making direct investment in the start-ups concurrently with the partner VC funds upon invitation of the latter.

For further background of ITVF, please refer to FCR(2016-17)67 submitted to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.

To learn more about ITVF, please see ITVF FAQ.

Eligibility of VC funds as our Co-investment Partners (CP)

A VC fund, whether it is incorporated in Hong Kong or overseas (Note 1) and whether it is a newly established or an existing fund, is welcome to apply for selection as a CP as long as it meets the following eligibility-

1. having an investment focus in I&T start-ups;
2. having an investment coverage including Hong Kong;
3. having a minimum remaining committed capital of HK$120 million as at the date of application (Note 2); and
4. having a remaining fund life of at least five years to co-invest with the ITVFC.

Note 1: Upon selection as a CP, the VC fund concerned should have a place of business in Hong Kong to facilitate communication with local I&T start-ups and the ITVFC.

Note 2: Upon selection as a CP, the VC fund concerned must provide documents to prove its minimum remaining committed capital of HK$120 million before entering into the Master Agreement with the ITVFC.

Please note that ITVFC will NOT accept applications or investment proposals submitted by individual start-ups directly.

Criteria for the selection of CPs

1. General background
2. Experience and performance
3. Management team’s experience
4. Local resources / knowledge for managing the co-investment fund

Detailed criteria are set out in the Guidelines for Application As Co-investment Partner.

Eligibility of local I&T start-ups for co-investment

A local I&T start-up under the recommendation of the CP should meet the following eligibility-

1. it was incorporated under the Companies Ordinance within the last seven years with one of its offices (headquarters or regional office) or its main business operation or its key management or leadership team being located in Hong Kong;
2. it and its subsidiar(ies) (if any) have been engaging in I&T business, covering any part of the research and development or production chain in Hong Kong; and
3. it and its subsidiar(ies) (if any) have a total number of employees (including Hong Kong and overseas offices) being less than 250.

Other useful information

List of Members in the Advisory Committee

How to apply?

Please submit your proposal to the ITVF Secretariat within the application period. For the information required in the proposal, please refer to the Guidelines for Application As Co-investment Partner.

The proposal together with relevant supporting documents and a compact disc containing the electronic version of the aforesaid proposal and documents (preferably in MS Word 2010 or above) shall be delivered to the ITVF Secretariat at the following address during the application period:

Innovation and Technology Venture Fund Secretariat
Innovation and Technology Commission
20/F., West Wing,
Central Government Offices,
2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar,
Hong Kong

Is there any application deadline?

The application period is closed on 15 January 2018.

Briefing session

A briefing was held on 3 October 2017 at the Hong Kong Science Park and the presentation material is available for download.

Presentation material for the briefing session (English version only)

The guides are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You need to install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or above to read it.