Visualise the possibilities ahead

Given the market for unmanned aerial vehicles will be worth US$100 billion within four years, according to Goldman Sachs, drone technology may seem an obvious investment for any venture capitalist. Rather than trying to make flying gadgets, however, Ho is thinking much bigger, and much further ahead, than that.

“The reality is that drones can also be used in ways that are not helpful to society,” he says. “These devices can be extremely dangerous because they can carry chemical weapons and explosives.” Spectrum 28 recently invested in Airspace Systems, a company developing a drone security system. It is the only solution capable of identifying, tracking and autonomously removing rogue drones from the sky.

Find a market that’s ripe for a shake-up

Kent is currently looking to disrupt the banking sector, and he’s doing so via an investment in a start-up called Earnest. “There is a huge opportunity globally to rebuild the consumer experience in banking from the ground up. Given Hong Kong’s position as a fintech hub, I hope we see some of this innovation in our local banks to improve customer experience.” 

Always keep an eye on China

“I think there are some extremely innovative business models, products and designs coming out of China,” says Kent. "China and companies like Alibaba and Tencent have done a much better job of expanding horizontally.

"People always say China is just copying the US, but there is actually a lot to learn from both sides. What’s really exciting right now is the number of entrepreneurs coming out of the big companies to do start-ups. And in Beijing, Tsinghua and Beida, two great universities, are driving talent and that is a critical piece of a tech ecosystem.”