A new model of highly efficient, artificial-intelligence-native enterprises is emerging across the technology landscape.

We are all familiar with the lean workforce of WhatsApp, which had only 55 employees when it was acquired by Meta for $19 billion in 2014. That was the exception back then. Today, AI is making such efficiency more accessible.

Consider two recent examples from China. 01.AI, a Beijing-based large-model startup founded in 2023, reached a valuation of $1 billion in under one year with roughly 80 employees. Another company, MiniMax, founded in 2021 and known for its conversational AI applications and digital-character platforms, now generates more than $150 million in annual recurring revenue with a workforce of approximately 155 people.

These two Chinese companies demonstrate a structural shift: Artificial intelligence is enabling small, technically sophisticated teams to achieve valuations once associated with much larger organizations. The defining characteristic of this new generation of firms is not headcount, but AI fluency, along with the ability to design AI-driven workflows that amplify human capability.

Hong Kong is preparing its next development blueprint in alignment with the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), which positions the “AI+” initiative as a driver of economic modernization through the deep integration of artificial intelligence across manufacturing, healthcare, finance and other key sectors. Fostering ultra-efficient AI-native enterprises should therefore form an integral component of the city’s strategic agenda, supported by a coherent innovation and capital ecosystem.

Strengthening the early-stage funding pipeline

Hong Kong’s investment community is globally respected for its financial discipline. Capital is readily available for later-stage opportunities, particularly pre-IPO rounds in which risk profiles are clearer. However, early-stage AI founders often encounter greater difficulty raising seed and Series A funding locally.

While the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government should primarily serve as a market enabler rather than a market participant, targeted calibration within existing investment frameworks can help bridge early-stage funding gaps. Through vehicles such as the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio and the Strategic Tech Fund under the Hong Kong Investment Corp, the government already possesses the institutional tools to align capital with long-term economic priorities. A clearer and sustained allocation focus on early-stage AI-native enterprises within these portfolios would help cultivate a pipeline of Series A-ready companies. As that pipeline strengthens, market-based investors from around the world are likely to follow.

Building a pipeline of versatile AI builders

Nano-unicorns do not require hundreds of programmers. They rely on compact teams of highly capable engineers who can navigate product development, customer discovery, and commercialization, often supported by AI agents embedded within their workflows.

Hong Kong’s higher-education institutions produce outstanding graduates, particularly in specialized disciplines. Yet the emerging AI landscape rewards integrative capabilities. Curriculums could place greater emphasis on what may be termed “AI workflow orchestration”: the practical use of large-language-model application programming interfaces, vector databases, and AI-driven automation in real-world environments.

The nano-unicorn era will reward jurisdictions that design deliberately for speed, integration and talent density. If Hong Kong acts with strategic clarity, it can position itself not merely as a participant in the AI+ transformation, but as a distinctive launchpad for the most capital-efficient innovators of the next decade

In parallel, Hong Kong can build on its existing foundation of talent attraction programs, which have successfully brought in tens of thousands of tech professionals to the city. However, the nano-unicorn founder represents a new profile: a highly mobile, capital-efficient AI entrepreneur who may employ only a handful of people locally but whose intellectual and commercial footprint is global. Hong Kong could therefore explore refining existing talent admission frameworks to better recognize AI-native entrepreneurial profiles, criteria that recognizes AI fluency, code output, and business traction, not just traditional employment offers or investment thresholds. Such a move would signal that Hong Kong welcomes not only large enterprises but also the leanest, most agile builders of the next economy.

From first customer to scalable market

For many startups, the most difficult milestone is securing their first paying customer. Some have proposed that the government act directly as an early customer. While limited pilot programs or cofunding programs can play a catalytic role, long-term sustainability depends on market access rather than permanent public demand.

Hong Kong’s strategic advantage lies in its connectivity with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a region of more than 80 million people, with advanced manufacturing capacity and deep industrial expertise. This integration aligns closely with the 15th Five-Year Plan’s emphasis on high-quality development, technological self-reliance, and deeper collaboration between Hong Kong and mainland cities.

The priority, therefore, is not to position the HKSAR government as a default customer, but to reduce structural frictions limiting collaboration between Hong Kong AI firms and their Greater Bay Area counterparts. The Greater Bay Area is not only a vast market but also a sophisticated industrial ecosystem. Effective integration should enable codevelopment, where Hong Kong’s finance, connectivity and AI design combine with the region’s manufacturing and hardware strengths, to jointly serve domestic and overseas markets. This may involve clearer compliance pathways for low-risk AI applications, pilot mechanisms for nonsensitive cross-boundary data collaboration within existing cybersecurity frameworks, and smoother digital settlement between the digital renminbi and digital Hong Kong dollar.

Designing for the nano-unicorn era

Artificial intelligence is lowering the barriers to building high-value enterprises. A founder equipped with a laptop and a sophisticated understanding of large language models can now compete with established incumbents in ways that were previously unimaginable.

Hong Kong possesses strong financial foundations, a common law system, and unique geographic positioning within the Greater Bay Area. What remains is an intentional ecosystem design tailored to the nano-unicorn model.

The adjustments required are not primarily fiscal. They are structural and strategic: cultivating earlier-stage capital, encouraging interdisciplinary AI capability, attracting global AI talent, and deepening integration with national development priorities.

The nano-unicorn era will reward jurisdictions that design deliberately for speed, integration and talent density. If Hong Kong acts with strategic clarity, it can position itself not merely as a participant in the AI+ transformation, but as a distinctive launchpad for the most capital-efficient innovators of the next decade.

The author is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing, the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.