Cyberport in 2015.
Cyberport is an office park with residences and a shopping center in Hong Kong.
It opened in 2004 as a way for the region’s fledgling internet companies to blossom.
Web3 move-to-earn company STEPN said this week that it’s opening an office in Cyberport.
About 7,000 miles southwest of Silicon Valley, across the Pacific Ocean, lies Hong Kong’s own version of a bustling tech metropolis.
Cyberport is an 18-year-old office and residential complex outside of Hong Kong that cost an initial $1.68 billion to construct, though much more was spent in the following years, according to a 1999 Wall Street Journal report.
Take a look inside what Hong Kong hopes to be its Silicon Valley.
Welcome to Cyberport.Cyberport in 2007.
Stefan Irvine/LightRocket via Getty Images
The project was meant to be Hong Kong’s version of Silicon Valley around the dot-com boom, per Reuters.A general view of the Cyberport construction site at Hong Kong’s Telegraph Bay, November 28, 2001.
Bobby Yip/Reuters
Source: Reuters
It launched in 2004.Cyberport was constructed in November 2001.
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Cyberport is run by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company, a private entity whose shares are owned entirely by the local government.
The Hong Kong region has helped birth 18 unicorns to date, Hong Kong Cyberport Management’s chief public mission officer Eric Chan told the South China Morning Post in June.
Source: Yahoo
It also runs an incubation program that helps fledgling startups get off the ground.Cyberport office space in 2013.
Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
The initiative has funded over 600 tech startups since it began in 2005.
Cyberport focuses on housing companies that are geared toward fintech, smart living, digital entertainment, esports, cybersecurity, AI, big data, and blockchain.Cyberport in 2003.
EDWARD WONG/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
One of the newest arrivals to the business park will be STEPN, the move-to-earn Web3 giant player that allows users to earn crypto as they exercise in the real world.
Cofounder Jerry Huang told the South China Morning Post Monday that it won’t force employees to relocate but it will allow some staffers to do so.
Source: Cyberport
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and other big names already have a foothold there.Portrait of Horace Chow Chok-kee, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong, at his offices in Cyberport in 2015.
Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Source: Cyberport
So does Web3 power player Animoca Brands.Yat Siu, then-CEO of Outblaze, at Cyberport in April 2011.
Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
The company was founded by Yat Siu in 2014 and is based in Cyberport. About 150 employees of the company’s 800 around the world work there.
Source: SCMP, Bloomberg
There are four main office buildings.Cyberport in 2015
Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
But there was also hope that it would be a place for people to live and play.A woman in Cyberport walking her dogs in 2012.
Dickson Lee/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
There’s what’s called the Cyberport Arcade.Cyberport Arcade in 2012.
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It’s a sprawling retail and entertainment compound with a movie theater, restaurants, shopping, and a supermarket.
There are 22 restaurants, according to the Arcade website.
Source: Cyberport Arcade
There’s also a luxury residential development called Bel-Air.Bel-Air Towers in 2012.
David Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Source: Bel-Air
It offers a variety of clubs, entertainment, and other benefits.A Bel-Air residence in Cyberport in 2003.
Antony Dickson/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Source: Bel-Air
There are also fitness centers, like this one that Forbes CEO Steve Forbes tried out in 2006.Steve Forbes, President and CEO of Forbes, tries the facility in the fitness room during the opening of Club Bel-Air Peak Wing at Cyberport, Pokfulam. 08 May 2006.
K. Y. Cheng/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
There’s a hotel in Cyberport called Le Meridien.Cheryl Yue, Director of Sales & Marketing of Le Meridien Cyberport, in 2003.
Edward Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
It appears to be operated by Marriott and boasts modern rooms and a pool with views.
A post shared by Le Méridien Hong Kong (@lemeridienhongkongcyberport)
Source: Marriott
It’s been almost two decades since Cyberport opened.People watch a live broadcast of the Anzac Day 2015 commemoration from Gallipoli Turkey, on the podium level at Cyberport.
Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
With companies at the forefront of Web3 — one of the tech world’s hottest areas — moving in, Cyberport may yet continue to bloom into the Silicon Valley it set out to be.
