Chinese sports tech start-up banks on Hong Kong’s connections, talent to reach new markets
- Shanghai-based Linthin Technology aims to put 70 per cent of its R&D workforce in Hong Kong’s Science Park to pursue its regional ambitions
Linthin Technology, a Chinese start-up specialising in sports science, is banking on Hong Kong’s global connections and talent networks to expand its services to markets around the region, aided by the city’s key investment agency.
The Shanghai-based company, which uses big data, Internet of Things, and artificial technology to enhance athletes’ performance and rehabilitation, joined the Science Park’s incubation programme last year and expects to raise its spending on research and development (R&D) in the coming months.
InvestHK, the agency tasked with attracting foreign investment, is playing its part to promote sports technologies to capitalise on greater market awareness. Hong Kong’s athletes produced two gold medal performances at the summer Olympics in Paris earlier this month.
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“InvestHK has helped us by introducing partnerships with local companies and promoting our products through different activities,” founder Justin Zhao said at a media briefing in Hong Kong on Friday. About 70 per cent of its R&D manpower will be based in Hong Kong this year, given the city’s linkages to global talents and foreign markets, he added.
Zhao, a former Huawei and Motorola engineer and senior manager, founded the company in 2020. Linthin’s products were used by China’s modern pentathlon teams at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021, and some esports teams, he added.
“We have already connected with some coaches in Australia, and the company will do more business with local Hong Kong universities to conduct research,” Zhao said.
The incubation programme managed by the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks (HKSTP) has helped more than 850 companies grow their footprints, according to its website. Four of them have since filed their initial public offerings.
