Hong Kong Immigration: 2014 was considered the inaugural year of O2O. By 2015, the domestic O2O battle became even more frantic, intense, and brutal as internet giants and capital entered the fray, accelerating the competition. While domestic O2O platforms were engaged in fierce battles, burning cash, and undergoing constant mergers, the more economically prosperous Hong Kong seemed much calmer. In fact, this is not the case; as an international metropolis, Hong Kong also has its own O2O enterprises, and there are quite a few of them. We have compiled a list of some Hong Kong O2O enterprises for your reference.
OpenRice
OpenRice is an online platform that provides restaurant search services and allows users to post food reviews. The website was founded by Chung Wai-man in 1999 and is headquartered in Hong Kong. It is known as the "Dianping of Hong Kong." According to its official website, OpenRice provides online food ordering, restaurant registration is free, and restaurant information is updated daily. It receives over 3.5 million unique visitors per month and generates up to 83 million page views.
According to public information, OpenRice contains information on hundreds of thousands of restaurants, categorized by cuisine, district, and average spending, allowing users to quickly and easily search for their favorite restaurants. Diners can book tables or purchase cash vouchers through OpenRice, which charges a commission. At the same time, OpenRice provides backend services for restaurant owners to assist them in maintaining their OpenRice pages.
GoGoVan
GoGoVan is a van-hailing service platform that connects van drivers with users in need, aiming to solve transportation needs for furniture moving, pet transport, and cargo delivery for merchants. It was founded in July 2013 by five Hong Kong residents who returned from studying in the United States, including founder Steven Lam. In August 2014, GoGoVan received $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Centurion Private Equity, and in November 2014, it received $10 million in Series B funding from Renren Inc. In June 2015, it announced the completion of a tens-of-millions-of-dollars Series B+ funding round. Investors in this round included former 91 Wireless CEO Hu Zemin, the founder of PPS and serial entrepreneur who previously worked at Google China, and Renren's Joseph Chen, who participated in the investment.
According to the GoGoVan official website, the number of commercial vehicles currently registered on GoGoVan exceeds 20,000. With the continuous expansion of the Hong Kong market, GoGoVan's business has now expanded to the logistics markets in Singapore, South Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan, and it is planning to enter the global market. Kuaigou is the mainland China version of GoGoVan, headquartered in Shanghai, where orders can be placed via WeChat and the app.
EasyVan
EasyVan is a freight market matching platform focusing on the Hong Kong market, providing logistics and freight services to users. The company was founded in December 2013 by CEO Shing Chow. It is reported that EasyVan's business now covers six cities including Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Taipei. In 2015, EasyVan received $10 million in Series A funding, led by Qingliu Capital, with participation from Geekbang, MindWorks Ventures, Sirius Venture Capital, Aria Group, and other individual investors. In October 2014, EasyVan entered the mainland market and launched Lalamove. Lalamove is headquartered in Guangzhou and focuses on intra-city delivery, primarily matching drivers with shippers who have transport needs. It is a product under Guangzhou Qiaoguan Network Technology Co., Ltd.
SpotHelp
SpotHelp mainly provides concierge and personal assistant services. Users can complete various trivial tasks and services by sending text messages or using the private messaging functions of WhatsApp or Facebook.
The company was founded in June 2012 and is located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. In July 2015, it received $1 million in angel funding from the Hong Kong foundation Jaarvis Labs.
PRESSIE
PRESSIE is an app focused on gift-giving, allowing users to obtain store inventory from Hong Kong merchants and then send gifts.
PRESSIE was founded in January 2015 and is located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It currently plans to expand in Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. In July 2015, PRESSIE received $1 million in angel funding from the Hong Kong foundation Jaarvis Labs.
FingerShopping
FingerShopping is a unique online shopping platform that collects authentic and high-quality merchants, providing secure and convenient payment channels, delivery services, and after-sales support. FingerShopping belongs to FingerShopping Limited, founded in 2013, and is one of the businesses of the Fung Group's listed company, Convenience Retail Asia Limited.
It is understood that FingerShopping combines online and offline operations, cooperating with all Circle K convenience stores in Hong Kong. In addition to home delivery services, it also provides in-store pickup services at over 330 Circle K convenience stores across Hong Kong. Besides online payment, customers can also pay upon delivery at any Circle K convenience store.
Gowell
Gowell is an online language training platform. In addition to providing language learning tools to learners, it also sells its online teaching programs to schools, governments, and enterprises. The company was founded in June 2003 and is located in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong. The founder is Linda Wu.
In March 2015, Gowell received $1 million in funding, led by the Hong Kong-based fund Fresco Capital, with participation from Nest Investments. It is understood that the purpose of this funding is to expand into the mainland China market.
Snapask
Snapask is an online Q&A tool designed to help students prepare for exam questions and solve difficult academic problems. It belongs to the Hong Kong company Appedu Co. It is reported that the company was founded in May 2014 and is located in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong. The founder is Timothy Yu. Students use their mobile phones to take pictures of questions and upload them to Snapask, and university tutors will assist in answering the questions online.
In September 2014, Snapask received HK$2 million in angel investment. Currently, it mainly serves students in two ways: one is by cooperating with schools, where teachers at the school form different groups based on different courses and classes, and students interact with teachers online in the groups to find materials and methods to solve learning difficulties; the other way is to invite university tutors to help students solve difficult problems online.
Bemytour
Bemytour is a smart tourism tool and a travel planning, booking tool, and platform. It is a product of Bemytour Technology Limited.
Bemytour was officially launched in September 2014. It combines high-end technology and content to comprehensively integrate parameters and data related to travel, calculating a personalized itinerary for users. Users can also directly book destination hotels, flights, destination activities, and tickets on the platform, compare products from multiple travel service providers, send inquiries online, and communicate with suppliers online.
Eday
Eday is an online vacation rental service provider that offers online vacation apartment rental services and value-added services. It belongs to Eday Group Limited. The company was founded in December 2007 and is headquartered in Hong Kong. The founder is Shi Jinlei. In February 2008, Eday officially launched its online vacation apartment rental business. It is reported that Eday has introduced third-party product or service providers related to vacation apartment online rental transactions, such as cleaning services, laundry, service teams, catering, entertainment, furniture and appliances, room supplies, and decoration, onto its online rental platform. The apartment online rental business has successively covered cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Xiamen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Changsha, completing a national layout radiating from South China to East China, Central China, Northwest China, and Southwest China. In May 2015, Eday Group entered the overseas market and signed a contract with Country Garden Danga Bay in Malaysia.
According to public information, at the end of April 2015, Eday conducted a new round of financing, led by investors with internet backgrounds, with participation from experienced Asian real estate funds and Asian real estate investors.
Klook
Klook is a destination travel experience and booking platform. It was founded in Hong Kong in April 2014 and belongs to Klook Travel Technology Limited. The founder is Ethan Lin. It is understood that Klook's professional team and travel experience experts personally explore various featured activities or experience projects and maintain close contact with legitimate and compliant service operators at the destination to ensure that reliable and high-quality destination activities and experiences can be booked through Klook at any time.
It received angel funding in June 2014. In June 2015, Klook announced that it had received $1.5 million in seed angel funding led by Wu Xiaoguang, a senior executive vice president of Tencent Group, former CEO of Tencent E-commerce, and a well-known angel investor.