5 Hong Kong Startups That Are Changing The World (And Your Health!)

It seems that every day a new crowd funding campaign goes live on IndieGoGo or a new co-working space opens its doors.Hong Kong’s startup scene has been growing rapidly and we couldn’t be happier to note that all of this creativity and problem-solving energy is being put to great use as local entrepreneurs tackle some of the biggest problems facing not just Hong Kongers but the whole planet. Take the five startups below, each of which has grand plans to make the world, and your health, better. We are so inspired by their ideas and can’t wait to get our hands on their awesome products!

Prepd Pack Lunchbox – Revolutionizing Healthy Lunch

Though both the company’s founders are based in Hong Kong, Prepd Pack has some very obvious world domination plans. Prepd Pack has taken KickStarter by storm raising over $430, 000 USD in a single month. Why? Because Prepd is solving a big problem that affects millions, namely: what to eat for lunch and how to make it healthy. Their cleverly designed modular lunch box includes glass containers, magnetic cutlery, and an eating mat, all of which makes it easy to bring tasty meals to the office without ingredients getting soggy or smashed. Then there is their app, which has all your meals for the week sorted: it provides shopping lists and meal suggestions from nutritionists and chefs, who also take meal prep into account and suggest foods you can make for the entire week. When you follow their recipes, the nutrition information for each of your meals is then available and can connect with Health Kit on iPhones. It’s no secret that eating home-cooked food is great for the wallet, great for your health and great for the planet, eliminating plastic packaging, reducing your reliance on industrially-sourced fast food and decreasing your food waste.

Order your Prepd Pack here.

uHoo Indoor Air Sensor – Revolutionizing Indoor Air Quality

The air in Hong Kong is a serious problem. It’s hardly a shocking statement at this point, since we all live with the pollution on a daily basis. Nowhere more so than in our houses and apartments. The poor-quality recycled air that gets stuck in our hallways and bedrooms can have a large negative impact on your health. Ever wonder what exactly you are breathing in while relaxing on your couch? uHoo has designed a wonder sensor that allows you to easily monitor things like temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and air pressure; plus,  it has sensors that detect indoor air pollution such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), small particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, and ozone gas. While having the ability to monitor all of this is important, the uHoo’s true brilliance is that the data is displayed on your phone, allowing you to keep tabs on your home wherever you are. Armed with this information, you can take steps improve your health and keep your family safe. Case in point? uHoo was created by two Hong Kongers suffering from chronic respiratory conditions who were looking for a way to ameliorate their quality of life.

Order your uHoo here.

Livin Farms Mealworm Hive – Revolutionizing Sustainable Protein

The Livin Farms founder, an industrial designer living in Hong Kong, wanted food that was locally grown and whose quality she could easily verify. She also wanted a protein source that was sustainable: inexpensive and kind to the planet. When she couldn’t find what she wanted on the market, she decided to solve her own problem. Insect protein is rapidly gaining in popularity and many predict it will be the future of food, a trend we reported on last year. Now on Kickstarter, Livin Farms offers a clean, easy and convenient mealworm farm that anyone can use at home. Mealworms as protein are extremely environmentally-friendly as compared to animal protein such as beef or lamb as they use less land, eat less food, consume less water and have a fraction of the carbon footprint. Livin Farms has raised over $145, 000 USD for their mealworm hives, which should be available in November of this year. The hive’s ingenius design means that it only needs maintenance once a week. Plus, you can feed the mealworms food scraps from your kitchen, something we are extremely excited about given the almost non-existent state of composting in Hong Kong homes. Livin Farms is a big win: a simple, smart and affordable way to eat healthy and lower your environmental impact.

Get your Livin Farms hive here.

CarShare.hk Car Rental App – Revolutionizing Car Sharing

If you pay attention to tech news, then the peer-to-peeer car sharing concept is nothing new. Most of us will have heard of car US-based Zip Car or Get Around. New kid on the block, Carshare.hk wants to give Hong Kongers a taste for vehicle shares. Carshare.hk connects drivers with car owners who are not using their cars, allowing users to rent cars that are available in their ‘hood. Cars are available by the hour as well as for the entire day- great for everything from a trip to the the New Territories to an afternoon of running errands. The site allows you to search by price, vehicle type (including 7-seaters!), and features such as whether the car has a bike rack to whether it’s pet-friendly. The available cars are all displayed on a well-designed map, making it easy to find the closest vehicle. They screen all cars and drivers, plus rentals include insurance, so you never need to worry, not to mention that a special piece of software is plugged into the vehicle to track mileage and ensure everyone’s safety. And it’s not just a boon for drivers! Car owners benefit too-like making an additional HK 5, 000 a month! And car sharing is good news for the planet: fewer car owners means fewer new cars, fewer carpark spaces, fewer emissions and fewer resources used. Car sharing is the efficient and convenient solution of the future! Expect more of it in your daily life.

Download Carshare’s Android app or iOS app. 

City Hydroponics Growing System – Revolutionizing Urban Farming

The founder of City Hydroponics long struggled with eating produce flown in from far away and tired of eating “anonymous” fruits and vegetables with no guarantee of how and where and by whom they were produced. Not a new problem, but not one easy to solve in the urban jungle that is Hong Kong where farmland and space are hot commodities. His solution? Engineer a way to grow produce in the confines of a Hong Kong apartment. So that’s what he did! His CH64 system allows anyone to convert a tiny balcony into their own personal hydroponic vegetable patch, and since nothing needs to be installed, City Hydropnics’ systems are ideal for renters. A hydroponic system allows you to grow a fairly varied selection using only a few inputs, such as water, and surprisingly, the plants grow incredibly efficiently and cleanly all while being easy to care for. The system can accommodate large and small plants, from tomatoes to herbs, thanks to the smart vertical row design. Their January pilot launch involves a crowd funding campaign on SparkRaise, a Hong Kong based crowd funding platform launching shortly. They have three more models in the pipeline, one for rooftops, and two for window sills, all of which they hope to sell soon on their website. We can’t wait: everyone needs more clean, nutritious produce in their life and we can’t all afford CitySuper prices!

Pre-Order your City Hydroponics system on Spark Raise.

Photos courtesy of uHoo, Livin Farms, CarShare.hk, City Hydroponics, and Prepd.