WOW Summit Hong Kong 2023: Shaping the Future of Web3

WOW (World of Web3) Summit Hong Kong 2023, held at Asia World-Expo on March 29-30, 2023, was a roaring success. It was the first and the largest Web3-focused event in the APAC region after the pandemic. The event was powered by GuyWay and MarketMakingPro, hosted by UVECON.VC, co-hosted by MaGESpire, and supported by the Hong Kong government – Hong Tourism Board, InvestHK, and Financial Services Development Council.

WOW Hong Kong had two stages packed with valuable talks, fireside chats, keynotes, and panel discussions on the Web2-to-Web3 transition, the internet’s future, blockchain adoption, tangible assets tokenization, NFT and Metaverse use cases, CBDC, regulations, and more. 

Over 4000 attendees arrived from across the globe, along with 50+ sponsors, 40+ renowned publishing houses, 200+ exhibitors, startups, and VCs, and 150+ speakers, including some of the top tier speakers like Yat Siu (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at Animoca Brands), Lennix Lai (MD of Global Institutional at OKX), Sébastien Borget (Co-founder & COO at The Sandbox), Lucy Gazmararian (Founder & Managing Partner at Token Bay Capital), WhaleShark (Founder at WHALE and E1337), Dave Chapman (Executive Director at BC Group), Angelina A. Kwan (CEO at Stratford Finance Limited), Duncan Wong (CEO at CryptoBLK), and others.

The event was made possible thanks to OKX, FirstDigital, Animoca Brands, Antalpha, Circle, Flowdesk, AWS, Tencent Cloud, ChainUp, and other sponsors. LiveArt, a leading global art platform with an end-to-end Web3 solution for minting and selling NFTs, led the WOW NFT exhibition. 

Hundreds of Web3 enthusiasts, who couldn’t arrive in Hong Kong, had an opportunity to join the urgent and important conversations on the industry matters on both stages via livestream online. 

“At WOW Summit, we witnessed Hong Kong’s determination to reassert its leadership in the Web3 space, and the tremendous Hong Kong government support (including FSDC, InvestHK, & HKTB) is a testament to this resolve. No effort was spared to make this summit a huge success. We were thrilled to see the overwhelmingly positive response, with over 150+ speakers and thousands of attendees coming from all over the world to Hong Kong to share their insights and participate in shaping the future of Web3. We look forward to making the next editions bigger and better in the years to come,” said Bowie Lau, Founder of MaGE Group and WOW Summit HK’s co-host.

This time WOW Summit joined forces with another big and famous event in Hong Kong – Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. Web3 and rugby fans were able to purchase a ticket bundle for an attractive price and enjoyed both events. Besides, there were some other affordable options for students, corporates, and startups exhibiting at WOW at discounted rates.

Web3 startups had a unique opportunity to pitch on stage in front of hundreds of investors and VCs during the startup competition. Out of 150+ applicants, only eleven top-ranked projects were chosen to pitch in the final round. Twenty-six jury members – VCs, private investors, funds, and accelerators – such as Cyberport, Newman Capital, Blockchain Founders Club, Spartan Capital, Metapac, and others selected the winners. Ratings of the chosen startups are available on Cyrator, that has implemented pioneering anti-collusion protocols that allow analysts from all over the world to collaborate on reliable crypto ratings.

In collaboration with Quantum Leap Strategy, Switzerland, WOW Summit launched WOW Investor Club. Every WOW Startup Competition is held within WOW Investor Club. Startup winners are chosen by the investors from the club, independent experts, WOW professionals, and community.

AlterPay, a B2B next-gen payment solution that allows bill payments and payroll with Web3 assets, took the first place. 

Cointelegraph, the General Media Partner of WOW Summit Hong Kong, provided the winner with a prize of PR and marketing services worth USD 35.000. The WOW legal partner, OLN, offered 2-month trial access to their cloud-based comprehensive library of legal agreements, specifically designed for startups and SMEs. 

WOW attendees selected Booster Pool as a startup competition winner on the second day. Their solution is an automatic commission reinvestment protocol that provides profit with hassle-free maximization of the investment strategy. 

MarketMakingPro offered a month of free consultancy services to its team. In addition, all the startup competition participants received free cloud credit support from Tencent Cloud, Founders Hub program benefits from Microsoft, and some other prizes from the supporting organizations.

Ivan V. Ivanov, the Global CEO of WOW Summit and the Founding Partner at UVECON.VC added, “It was an amazing experience. We worked hard 24/7 for several months to deliver WOW Summit Hong Kong. It’s really great to see the outcome and hear great feedback from attendees, speakers, sponsors, and government officials. Social media space is buzzing about WOW Summit, top media houses are publishing editorial articles, and attendees are spreading the word across the globe! I want to thank the team and everyone who made this possible! WOW will grow, and we are waiting for you at our next edition in Dubai in autumn and next spring in Hong Kong!”

The next exclusive and luxurious WOW Summit edition will welcome Web3 industry leaders in Dubai on October 8-9 and will be packed with networking, business, valuable connections, and fun.  

As a cherry on top, WOW Summit is launching its NFTs and tokens. There are only 200 exclusive NFTs available at the moment! WOW NFT holders will receive 10% rewards in WOW loyalty tokens linked to the actual ticket sales turnover of WOW events. Besides, they will be granted loads of perks and benefits such as discounted sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities, VIP tickets to WOW Summits, and much more.