Founder communities in Hong Kong: 11 compared (2026)

The right founder community in Hong Kong is the one you'll go back to: a Saturday run in Sai Ying Pun, networking drinks in Central, a vetted founder evening or a programme at Science Park. Below are 11 communities, each checked on its own pages, with what each costs, how to get in and when it next meets.

A note before you read on: this guide is published by Remote Builders, our own free community for founders who build companies remotely, which you can join online from Hong Kong. It isn't in the table, because it doesn't meet in Hong Kong. We've left out any number we couldn't find on a community's own page.

How to choose a founder community in Hong Kong

Runs, meetups and drinks

• Founders Running Club Hong Kong runs every Saturday at 9am from Sai Ying Pun, then coffee.
• Startup Grind Hong Kong has been active in Hong Kong since February 2014 and lists its in-person events as free. It held an AI in Action networking evening on 22 October 2026 and runs an AI app building workshop at Cm Club in Wan Chai on 4 November 2026.
• TEN (The Entrepreneurs' Network), a non-profit, runs networking drinks at Culture Club Gallery on Elgin Street, at HK$100 a ticket; three attendees get a one-minute pitch. The next drinks are on 3 November 2026.
• HK Entrepreneurs, Startups & Venture Capital Community runs happy hours, seminars, panels and pitch nights for locals and expats.

Vetted founder groups

What You Building? (WYB) is a paid community built for Hong Kong founders that says it has 500+ vetted members, with founder mixers, pitch nights, closed-door dinners and a WhatsApp group; every application is reviewed. EO Hong Kong, running since 1995, puts founders and owners with at least 10 full-time employees into monthly confidential forums.

Women founders

The Women Entrepreneurs Network (WEN) runs monthly small-group meetups, workshops, mentoring and social evenings for women business owners from start-up to scaling. It held a Connect & Collaborate Evening on 6 October 2026, and its WENStart programme runs from January 2027.

Science Park and fintech

HKSTP's Ideation Programme gives tech entrepreneurs with an R&D-backed idea a grant of up to HK$100,000, coaching, training and co-working at Hong Kong Science Park for a year. The HKSTP Startups Alumni Association connects founders of graduated companies through networking evenings and business matching, and HK Science Park Startup Ecosystem runs talks and workshops, many at Science Park. The FinTech Association of Hong Kong is a member association for fintech startups, entrepreneurs and corporates.

Founder communities in Hong Kong compared

These are 11 communities. We checked the 7 new rows on 28 October 2026 and the other 4 on the same day for our East Asia guide. Every row was active when we checked: an event, intake or post dated May 2026 or later, or open registration for an upcoming event. "Says" means the figure is the community's own claim.

Notes on the table

• Upcoming events. WEN's Coaches Circle is on 29 October, TEN's drinks are on 3 November, Startup Grind's workshop and WYB's founder evening are on 4 November, and EO's Discover North Asia runs from 26 to 28 November. HKSTP's Ideation results are due in late November 2026.
• Event dates from Luma. TEN's 3 November drinks and WYB's 15 September evening come from the event data in Luma's page code rather than the page text.
• Approval. WYB reviews every application, EO Hong Kong is by invitation with a 10-employee minimum, the Ideation Programme needs an HKID and the Alumni Association is for graduated HKSTP companies.

Communities we checked and left out

We left out sites that blocked curl (including Cyberport's), groups with no event since April 2026, programmes that run online or outside Hong Kong, one-off events, a government initiative and festival, a cohort accelerator whose applications had closed, groups for AI builders or the wider business scene rather than founders, and a site that needs JavaScript to show anything. We didn't find a climate, web3, hardware, ecommerce or bootstrapper founder group in Hong Kong that met that bar; if you run one, tell us and we'll check it.

Hong Kong's founders in numbers

InvestHK reported on 9 February 2026 that Hong Kong's startup count reached a record 5,221 in 2025, according to the government's 2025 Startup Survey, with fintech the top sector. Startup Genome's Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025 moved Hong Kong into the global top 40, at number 27. InvestHK says Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK 2026 runs from 2 to 6 November 2026, with its main conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

How to get value in your first month

1. Pick one weekly thing and one monthly thing. A Saturday run, plus drinks or a founder evening.
2. Go to the same one three times. By the third, people know what you're building.
3. Bring one specific ask. "I need an intro to a founder who has set up a Hong Kong entity to sell into the Greater Bay Area" gets you somewhere.
4. Use FinTech Week. InvestHK lists founder events around Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK (2 to 6 November 2026), including WYB's Pour Decisions evening on 4 November.
5. Add a broader group. Our East Asia guide covers other cities, and our comparison of communities for remote founders covers the online options.

Common mistakes

• Only going to big conferences. The small formats, like WEN's circles or TEN's drinks, are where you get real help.
• Saying yes to everything. Pick two or three and go often.
• Skipping Science Park. If you're building deep tech, HKSTP's programmes and alumni network are worth a look.
• Waiting for the perfect group. If nothing fits your niche, start one. Our guide to starting a founder meetup covers the first three events.