Skip to content

Igniting your growth in Asia

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme: subsidised support for UK startups and scaleups

Get in touch

Igniting your growth in Asia

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme: subsidised support for UK scaleups

Get in touch

Igniting your growth in Asia

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme: subsidised support for UK scaleups

Get in touch

Igniting your growth in Asia

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme: subsidised support for UK scaleups

Get in touch

What is the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme?

It’s a government-backed initiative we're running to help UK tech firms grow in the Asia Pacific region, derisking and accelerating the growth of the sector.

If you are a technology startup or scaleup, are headquartered in the UK, and are keen to explore opportunities in APAC, look no further. 

Get in touch

"This programme is an amazing opportunity to reach new markets, solve new problems and improve profitability."

Alastair Williamson, CEO, Wyld Networks

What support is available?

From in-country Business Development Initiatives and fundraising support to pitch events, we will help you identify the programme and target market that align with your goals.

Markets

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme spans 11 countries: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Home to a combined population of 820 million, the region is at the forefront of new global trade arrangements, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which the UK officially joined in March 2023. Standing out in terms of its rapid adoption of technology over many decades, the APAC region offers unlimited growth potential to UK tech companies.

Japan, Korea & Taiwan

Japan, Korea & Taiwan

The developed economies of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are home to global tech powerhouses that, over the past 50 years, have shaped the planet in mobility, energy, healthcare, ecommerce, consumerables and semiconductors.

A deal with a corporate here can be your route to global markets. Furthermore, demographic shifts such as an ageing population and rapid urbanisation offer exciting opportunities for UK tech companies expanding in the region.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia's rapidly developing infrastructure, tech savvy workforce and rising middle class make it a highly attractive commercial market for UK tech companies capable of implementing successful go-to-market strategies.

With a population of nearly 600 million 'digital native' consumers and over 7,000 digital startups (including the emergence of 21 tech unicorns in the last 2 years alone), there are ample opportunities for UK tech companies in ecommerce, fintech, mobile tech, cyber security and digital transformation.

Australia & New Zealand

Australia & New Zealand

With tech sectors worth a combined $170 billion, Australia and New Zealand lead the world in the application of cutting-edge technologies. For example, Australia has been at the forefront of blockchain adoption in finance, immersive simulation education, smart agriculture and quantum computing research.

New Zealand excels in terms of digital infrastructure, medtech, and digital and creative technologies. Ranking among the highest in the world for skills needed to use and adopt frontier technologies, the country is an ideal location for first-time international expansion in the APAC region.

Upcoming Events

Pitch event – energy tech

Partner: Sumitomo – major Japanese trading house

Prize: High-value tech & commercial discussions (PoC, R&D venture, etc.)

Our next pitch event will be hosted in partnership with one of Japan's largest trading houses. 

They want to meet UK tech firms that are breaking new ground in energy management systems, distributed energy resources, energy aggregation, trading, optimisation, virtual powerplants and V2X, 

Date: December 2023

Location: The Royal Society, London

Register your interest
With media rounded corners

Navigating Asian business cultures

Even in today’s hyper-connected world, cultural faux pas are common – and can be detrimental to lasting business relationships. 

This workshop takes an insider’s look at the lesser-known cultural touchstones you should be conscious of and sensitive to when expanding in APAC. 

Date: Tuesday 12 December; 09:30 – 10:30 GMT

Sign up here

Past Events

How to supercharge your business in APAC – from legal, tax and talent perspectives

This workshop will detail the practicalities of establishing and running a business in different APAC markets. It will feature expert speakers from law firm Lewis Silkin and corporate & advisory service provider Acclime who specialise in supporting UK companies to expand into APAC with over 13,000 clients across the region. 

Date: 10.11.2023

Pitch event – Dai-ichi Life

Six UK healthtech and insurtech startups pitched to one of Japan's largest insurance corporates, showing off their technologies that could help reimagine traditional insurance models, provide new services and improve quality of life for its customers. 

Date: 25.09.2023

Location: The Royal Society, London

See the video

With media rounded corners

Pitch event with Aioi Nissay

Japan's largest automotive insurer met with eight leading sustainability and wellness entrepreneurs to develop new offerings to mitigate the adverse impacts of natural disasters and climate change.

Date: 12.06.2023

Location: Royal Society, London

See the video
With media rounded corners

Your first steps into APAC: an interactive case study session

This beginner workshop will take you through the key decision-making junctures when picking the right time and place to approach customers and partners APAC.

We'll also put what we learn into practice by analysing real-life case studies of what others did – and why – in similar situations.

Watch on-demand

London Tech Week 2023

London Tech Week is a yearly global celebration of tech, uniting the most innovative thinkers and talent of tomorrow in a week-long festival.

This year, there was an increased focus on the APAC region and we hosted a series of events to connect UK startups with investors and partners from Asia Pacific.

See the video
With media rounded corners

Programme Leadership

Based in Intralink's London office, Paul is leading our UK programme team, supervising scaleup recruitment and project delivery for the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme.

He lived and worked in Asia for many years, helping western tech companies, across multiple market sectors, grow their business in the region.

A fluent Mandarin speaker, he has also worked as head of sales at a high-growth SaaS startup with a strong APAC focus.

Please get in touch to speak to Paul or other members of our programme team.

"The team’s connections and market knowledge are opening doors to financial institutions we’d have struggled to engage.”

Gareth Lewis, CEO, Delio

Delivery Partners

The UK APAC Tech Growth Programme is being delivered in partnership with Foley and Orissa International. 

Orissa International

Orissa International provides consulting services to companies seeking to expand in Southeast Asia. Established in 1997, it is headquartered in Singapore with 32 employees across offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Orissa has extensive knowledge of many industry sectors and a network of thousands of contacts including end users, distributors, resellers, system integrators, expert advisors and manufacturers – built through helping more than 3,000 companies with their market expansion into Southeast Asia over the last 25 years.

Find out more
Foley

Established in Sydney in 2002, Foley has 14 full-time employees. It is a bespoke international business advisory consultancy offering international trade and investment services to organisations looking to do business in Australia and New Zealand.

Government clients include Invest Northern Ireland, the West Midlands Growth Company, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Business Finland and the US states of Maryland, Michigan and Ohio.

Find out more

Previous Participants

Ecosystem Partners

Ready to ignite your growth?

If you're interested in taking part in any of our programmes, please get in touch.

Get in touch

We use cookies to give you the best experience of using this website. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy for more information.