Unlocking US$5M funding access for social enterprises, Choco Up partners with Dream Impact to bring Hong Kong’s impact ecosystem to new heights
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 17 November 2022 - Choco Up, Asia's leading revenue-based financing and growth platform, today announces its partnership with Dream Impact, Hong Kong's largest network of social enterprises and impact ventures.
In support of Dream Impact's capital services, Choco Up aims to deploy up to US$5 million in non-dilutive booster capital to help social enterprises and ventures across different impact themes, such as Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), Circular Economy and Human-Centric Education, developed by Dream Impact in line with the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These thematic initiatives bring together different parts of society on each of these topics to identify social needs and develop social innovation initiatives. Choco Up's growth funding is anticipated to help socially conscious businesses to achieve their vision and mission.
Filling the funding gap that many traditional financial services providers are missing out on, the growth capital could have a transformative impact on social startups and impact ventures, empowering them to scale and generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside positive financial returns.
While many other investors remain on the fence about financing impact ventures, Choco Up is one of the first financial services providers in Asia to offer funding support for socially responsible businesses on a wide scale.
Brian Tsang, Co-founder and COO of Choco Up said: "We're excited to work with Dream Impact to support social ventures and push forward the growth of the impact ecosystem in Hong Kong. The partnership with Dream Impact marks an important milestone in our impact finance journey, as we continue to expand our reach in the impact space and work towards enhancing financial inclusion for socially conscious businesses across Asia."
Dream Impact, which celebrates its 5th birthday this year, is an impact-first organisation in Hong Kong that is committed to connecting social entrepreneurs to resources, bridging communities for collaboration and deepening impact in different fields. Its three pillars of work, namely capital, community and solutions, are key to achieving this goal.
Turning a new chapter in Hong Kong's impact ecosystem through cross-sector collaboration
This partnership brings the knowledge, resources and expertise of Choco Up to Dream Impact and its network of impact-focused founders and enterprises.
Bringing together the resources of two leading players in the impact and finance spaces, the cross-sector collaboration is one of a kind in Asia, opening the door to multi-million dollar funding for numerous socially conscious businesses, empowering Dream Impact to amplify the impact of its work and Choco Up to expand its social footprint across industries.
"We're pleased to work with Choco Up as our scale-up financing business partner who is aligned with our mission. They understand the value of social enterprises and impact ventures that are making efforts to shape the future that we collectively want, and share our vision of a society where everyone is conscious of the work they do, the things they buy and the values they advocate," said Dorothy Lam, Co-founder and Chief Catalyst of Dream Impact.
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Choco Up
Choco Up is a global technology and financial services platform, offering revenue-based financing and business growth solutions for digital merchants and startups. With data analytics and machine learning at its core, Choco Up employs vast integrations to automate fund deployment, providing fast-growing companies with zero-equity funding in a quick and seamless manner. We currently have offices in Singapore and Hong Kong and serve businesses worldwide, providing smart-growth analytics and global payment solutions to fuel their growth.
About Dream Impact
Dream Impact is Hong Kong's largest network of social enterprises and impact ventures, building and growing Hong Kong's impact ecosystem. Together with a community of 90+ social enterprises & impact ventures, we strive for building collective impact through providing impact community & space, impact solutions & consultation and impact capital services.
More information on Dream Impact and Choco Up Partnership
Dream Impact is an impact-first organisation in Hong Kong that is committed to connecting social entrepreneurs to resources, bridging communities for collaboration and deepening impact in different fields. Its three pillars of work, namely Capital, Community, and Solutions, are key to achieving this goal.
Supporting the mission and growth of social impact companies with capital services
With its capital pillar, Dream Impact provides a suite of services and programs for social impact companies that are actively seeking funding or investment, helping them to prepare for fundraising, matching them to like-minded investors and providing educational programs on impact investment.
The Investment Readiness Program, for example, is designed to help impact venture founders evaluate their business strategies, financial projections, fundraising plans and product roadmaps in order to help social ventures to become investment-ready.
Dream Impact will then help entrepreneurs to set up due diligence data rooms, and connect them with potential investors who could provide capital and resources to scale up their impact projects.
Building a diverse and inclusive impact community
At the heart of its community pillar, Dream Impact is dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive impact community in Hong Kong.
Through workshops, panel sharing, networking and other events, Dream Impact brings together socially-minded individuals and purpose-driven organisations, enabling them to tap into its vast network of impact investors, corporates, academia, NGOs and more.
Further to Dream Impact's endeavours to create an impact community, Choco Up will share with Dream Impact's network their knowledge and expertise in business growth in support of both fellow members and entrepreneurs.
Co-founders of Choco Up, Percy Hung and Brian Tsang, will be joining Dream Impact's network of social innovators, serving as mentors to social startup founders and entrepreneurs, working alongside the teams throughout their business and impact growth journeys.
"As a serial entrepreneur myself, I've had my fair share of trial and error before I found my way to entrepreneurial success. I've been there, and I want to share my knowledge and experience while nurturing budding impact founders and businesses, so they don't have to walk this journey alone or without help," said Percy Hung, Co-founder and CEO of Choco Up.
Percy's wealth of entrepreneurial experience, which spanned 10+ years across multiple sectors, such as food & beverage, automotive, apparel and consumer tech, would be a valuable addition to Dream Impact's body of mentors for social founders and entrepreneurs.
In this mentorship initiative, Brian Tsang, Co-founder and COO of Choco Up likewise has something to share with Dream Impact's community. With deep expertise and experience in credit management and investment under his belt, Brian will be guiding social founders towards impact investing opportunities, building scalable impact businesses and creating positive financial returns while carrying out their impact imperatives.
Fostering development and implementation of impact solutions across the board
At the core of its solutions pillar, Dream Impact is committed to helping corporates, NGOs, schools and other institutions to source and integrate ESG solutions into their programs, curricula and work processes. With an aim to create a real impact shift in the community, the impact-first organisation has a sharp focus on the authenticity and practical implementation of ESG solutions.
Choco Up, with their wealth of experience from working in close partnership with hundreds of businesses, some of which are impact-driven, will be sharing their expertise and actionable insights on ESG integration that Dream Impact's clients can leverage to drive business and impact growth.
"As a technology and financial services platform, we believe that empowering our partners and clients to implement sustainable solutions to societal challenges is the best way to create impact in society. It's with our unique access to proprietary data and real case studies on businesses in different stages and sectors that we can provide insights to help Dream Impact to improve on their solutions," said Brian Tsang, Co-founder and COO of Choco Up.
