CoCoon

History

CoCoon was co-founded by Theodore Ma, Erica Ma and Maximilian Ma. Theodore graduated from Stanford University in 2004, where he studied computer science and communication and later completed a master's degree in E-commerce and Internet Computing at the University of Hong Kong. He and his co-founders devised the platform to have two purposes: (1) for entrepreneurs to physically gather to exchange ideas, share their knowledge and collaborate on their work; and (2) for entrepreneurs to connect with Hong Kong business owners who are willing to share their experiences and insights in building successful businesses.

CoCoon soft launched in 2012, when it started taking applications for memberships. It was one of a handful of sharing office space companies that opened in Hong Kong around that time, mainly because of the extremely high price of local real estate. However, CoCoon was one of the first and largest. By September, more than a hundred local entrepreneurs joined as members.

In 2013, entrepreneurs at CoCoon received HK$11.5 million in funding. By October 2014, HK$18 million had been raised. CoCoon claims that their entrepreneurship community managed to raise HK$130 million by November 2015.

Activities

Paying members have access to the space, which takes up 9,000 square feet in the CitiCorp Centre in Tin Hau on Hong Kong Island, from 8:30am to 10:30pm. It includes business premises such as an area for presentations, meeting rooms, private lockers and a large co-working space, but also informal contents such as a cafe and a ping-pong table.

CoCoon organizes regular events, such as talks, lectures, seminars, mentorship programs and BarCamp network conferences such as BarCamp, Startup Weekend, hackathons and more. Innovation for Lunch is a networking event where startup entrepreneurs can meet and network with others in a small group setting. Monthly CoCoon Market Meetup helps align startups with freelancers such as developers and designers.

STEP Program

CoCoon STEP (Students Training in Entrepreneurship Program) is an opportunity for students to work inside startups and learn about entrepreneurship and to equip them with the knowledge and skills to develop their own ideas and products. This program occurs annually during the summer and spring.

Workshops

Students attend a series of intensive entrepreneurship workshops, company visits, internship matching session and have the opportunity to meet with entrepreneurs and leaders from successful social enterprises and corporations.

30 Day Challenge

Students can also form teams to join a 30-day challenge for the CoCoon Gifted Young Entrepreneurs Award. Students will build their own start-up within 30 days and compete for cash prizes. It is awarded every year to the top qualifying entrepreneurial students within the CoCoon STEP program who demonstrate that they are not only incredible team players but potential entrepreneurial leaders with next generation ideas. On pitch day, finalists will pitch their ideas to the judging panel.

Internships

An internship inside a startup will offers a hands on experience of running a business and valuable opportunities to grow as entrepreneur or intrapreneur (innovators who work inside large companies). CoCoon STEP has successfully trained over 100 students from 8 universities. Partners include the world’s most renowned academic institutions - the University of Hong Kong and Cambridge University. Over 50 of Hong Kong’s most innovative startups have participated in the program.

Pitch Night

The signature program at CoCoon is Pitch Nights, an event for entrepreneurs to showcase their business before and audience of investors and corporate partners. Presentations can be made in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. By the end of 2014, there had been 16 Pitch Nights with HK$140,000 cash prize awarded. The community has expanded rapidly in 2015, according to the Peak Magazine, companies that have pitched at CoCoon raised over HK$130M (US$16.7M) in angel and seed funding.#CoCoonPitch Night was featured on Forbes and TVB Money Magazine. By mid 2016, CoCoon entrepreneurs have raised over HK$240m in early stage investment.

Market Meetup

There is also a monthly CoCoon Market Meetup event, to complement the CoCoon Market entrepreneurship project platform, which welcomes between 30 to 60 people to help startups find ways to earn money and find talent to work with. By November 2013, CoCoon's events had attracted 3,500 visitors.

Seed Stage Investment

Since March of 2016, Cocoon established an investment arm called Cocoon Ignite Ventures. With connected capital, Cocoon Ignite Ventures is a theme-based early-stage fund that invests in entrepreneurs who have a unique vision of the new economy and can create value from decentralized networks and new business models. It primarily focuses on investing in companies that are in the pre-startup/R&D, MVP/Finished product, or achieving sales stages. Cocoon Ignite Ventures has provided investments for companies such as Shopline, Cafe X, Soundbrenner, Talkpush, Yunnke, and Workpop.

Community

As of November 2015, the CoCoon startup community grew to more than 400 entrepreneurs and 750 alumni. Several members and alumni, such as Carshare.hk and Social-Fi, have met with commercial success. Klook, a startup selling travel activities across Asia, raised a $1.5 million seed round since its founding in September 2014 and announced a $5 million Series A round.

Several other startups at CoCoon have appeared in the media because of their original business ideas. They include not only Hong Kong natives, but also expats working in Hong Kong.