Ten startups from Brazil and Portugal seek investment in a technology fair in Macau
Ten startups from Brazil and Portugal will participate in the Beyond Expo 2023 technology fair, which kicks off in Macau on Wednesday and aims to bring Chinese investors closer to the Portuguese-speaking markets, the organizer told Lusa.
“Macau being a city where Portuguese is spoken, I believe it is very important to maintain this tradition, and we hope to help Lusophone startups get to know the Chinese and Asian markets better,” said Beyond Expo co-founder Jason Ho Kin Tung.
The fair’s program, to take place between May 10 and 12, includes, on Thursday, the second edition of the Brazil-Portugal Innovation Company Roadshow.
The Beyond Expo will feature “at least 60 major venture capital funds,” including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, for whom Portuguese-speaking countries are still “somewhat off the radar,” said Jason Ho.
Despite admitting that “there will be a learning period,” the businessman believes several large Chinese financial groups may invest in startups as a first step to entering the Portuguese and Brazilian markets.
Jason Ho, son of the leader of the Macau Government, Ho Iat Seng, also praised “the spirit of adventure” of the startups that are trying, through Macau, to leap to China, “a huge market, with a lot of potentials, but also with enormous competition.
Four of the ten startups were distinguished in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions organized in Macau for technology companies from Portugal and Brazil, including Biosolvit, a Portuguese-Brazilian biotechnology company in environmental protection that won the first edition of the competition in 2021.
Two other companies distinguished in 2021 will participate: the Brazilian Bioo, which develops health solutions for diabetics, and Pocket Clinic, which wants to develop an intelligent syringe for chronic diseases that require the continuous injection of medication.
The list also includes the winner of the contest’s second edition, in 2022, the Portuguese Virtuleap, which combines neuroscience and virtual reality to help increase levels of attention in the treatment of cognitive diseases and to delay the onset of cognitive decline.
After two editions of the Beyond Expo limited by the pandemic, Jason Ho said it was impossible to invite more startups because Macau opened its borders to all foreigners “so suddenly” on January 5.
The organizer said he hopes that in 2024 he can count on more projects from Lusophone countries besides Portugal and Brazil, markets where “the ecosystem for startups is already more mature.”
Over 600 companies will participate in the fair this year, but Jason Ho does not hide a greater ambition.
“By 2026, we want that when the world wants to know about technological innovation in Asia, it will come to Beyond Expo.”
With information from Lusa
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