Supercharging UK tech growth in Asia Pacific

Participants could gain access to free and subsidised activities that matched their market readiness level: from business matching with major corporates to overseas missions, pitch events and bespoke in-market business development initiatives.

Across three years, through 12 trade missions, 12 reverse pitches to APAC corporates, five business matching sessions, 24 in-market BD initiatives and 75+ in-depth consultations, we helped innovative UK scale ups establish new opportunities for an export and investment pipeline worth over £170m.

Over 400 UK tech companies have taken part, directly interacting with more than 300 APAC corporates.

250 commercial discussions have been generated from programme activities. Many have already generated sales for UK companies. Many more are still maturing.  

Understand the APAC opportunity

Everything starts with opportunity awareness and understanding. But with a region as vast and diverse as Asia Pacific, things can quickly become complicated.

Having supported tech innovators’ global expansion for over three decades, we knew that UK scaleups – even the APAC-ready ones – need to pick their battles carefully, being strapped for time and resources.

To help companies expand in APAC the right way, we set about curating a library of educational content that covered the fundamentals: webinars and bite-sized explainers on business cultures, market entry and deal making, as well as in-depth market reports on key APAC sectors and UK tech priorities (view the full library here).

As of July 2026, our educational content has been viewed, downloaded and engaged with 7,000+ times. 

One major task was to convince companies’ boards to see the Asia opportunity as equal to, if not more lucrative than, the more ‘natural’ destinations of Europe and the US. Many consider things like distance, language and culture as major roadblocks and thus ‘something to tackle later’. Seeing APAC as a priority was difficult for some UK companies that we spoke to, but things got easier as we introduced 45-minute one-on-one consultations with our in-house experts based in each company’s chosen market and sector.

More than 70 of these were completed, giving companies a clear idea whether APAC was right for them, and if so, what, where and how to get started. Many we consulted ended up participating in our pitch events and trade missions. Some, though, we had to advise to continue developing their product and market readiness closer to home for a bit longer. 

Validate the APAC opportunity

There is no better way to gauge a commercial opportunity than to sit opposite a potential customer, investor or partner, and have a direct conversation.

Being deeply connected with Asia’s largest corporates, we asked them about the key growth challenges they were facing and the technological bottlenecks they were looking to solve, and with this we designed a series of 12 curated reverse pitch events.

On one side of the aisle, we had some of APAC’s largest corporates such as Sumitomo, TOTO and Shimizu, with concrete challenges to overcome. On the other side, we had carefully selected UK scaleups demonstrating how their products and technologies can solve said challenges.

Winners (and oftentimes runners-up) of each pitch event progressed to purchase orders, signed MoUs and kicked off investment discussions. APAC corporates got to understand the UK is no slouch for cutting-edge tech innovation, and UK scaleups found proof that Asian corporates are looking for, and buying, what they’re selling.

Some of our successful pitch events

Building relationships and business strategies

Accelerate the APAC opportunity

Finally, we offered a select group of 24 stand-out UK scaleups – those who perfected their understanding of the APAC market opportunity and validated their business case for expansion in the region – a chance for real, in-market engagement.

We delivered that through Business Development Initiatives (or BDIs) which are proactive 6-to-10-week projects whereby each company is assigned a team in their chosen market to act as their on-the-ground sales representatives. Their job was to identify prospective customers, perform targeted outreach, secure and run exploratory meetings and generate a sales pipeline.

This methodology was built upon our tried-and-tested surrogate sales programme, and while not as comprehensive, it helped give participants a foot in the door to APAC’s most lucrative markets. And due to being 90% subsidised by the UK Government, it was highly cost-effective.

Success stories include a leading space solutions provider establishing a $10m investment pipeline for a facility and the hiring of two permanent staff in the market. Another was a quantum computer developer securing an MoU with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to develop advanced applications, with further joint venture agreements signed to create specialised algorithms with other APAC quantum tech leaders. This was an excellent example of the programme helping a company progress from an initial curiosity about APAC to one-on-one GTM strategy consultation and ending in a targeted in-market outreach and real commercial results.

Looking ahead

The programme has helped exceptional UK innovators take first steps into new markets they would otherwise have difficulty accessing and managing alone.

We focused on equipping UK companies with long-term strategic thinking by providing a well-balanced public-private support structure: combining the DBT's funding and institutional support with Intralink's commercial network in APAC and our deal-making acumen.

Asia Pacific’s importance to any company's growth strategy is only going to increase in the coming years, as the programme's participants can attest.

If your city, region, state or country has a bustling tech scene keen to go global, we can help you get them to their destination. Get in touch by clicking the button below.