OKOsix’s 5-year journey: from Hong Kong startup to Shenzhen HQ eyes Guangdong factory

For venture-backed founders, Hong Kong’s integration with mainland China via the Greater Bay Area offers a tantalizing growth corridor—but it’s not without pitfalls. This briefing analyzes OKOsix’s expansion from a pandemic pivot to Shenzhen headquarters, revealing what startups need to know about cross-border scaling, regulatory alignment, and the delicate balance of ‘one country, two systems’.

As Hong Kong marks 29 years since its handover to China, the city is betting on deeper integration with the mainland through the Greater Bay Area initiative, but this strategy carries significant risks that could undercut the very advantages the city seeks to protect. The case of OKOsix, a biodegradable materials startup founded in 2021, illustrates the complex calculus facing businesses and policymakers. The company, which emerged from the pandemic with a mission to address mask waste, has found strong demand in Western markets and is now expanding into Shenzhen’s Futian district to lock in a reliable supply chain and tap China’s vast consumer base. Yet its trajectory is a microcosm of the delicate balancing act Hong Kong must perform: leveraging China’s manufacturing muscle and market scale without sacrificing the unique legal, financial, and regulatory attributes that make the city a global business hub under ‘one country, two systems.’

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For venture-backed founders, Hong Kong’s integration with mainland China via the Greater Bay Area offers a tantalizing growth corridor—but it’s not without pitfalls.

The Greater Bay Area master plan, linking Hong Kong, Macau, and nine Guangdong cities into an integrated economic powerhouse, is central to this vision. For companies like OKOsix, the promise is tangible. Founder Eddie Yu said his firm has already secured sizeable orders and plans to build a factory in Guangdong in the near future, a move that could slash production costs and streamline logistics for exports to Canada, Europe, and Australia. This mirrors a broader pattern of Hong Kong enterprises relocating or expanding manufacturing across the border to capitalize on lower labor and land costs, while retaining high-value functions such as R&D and finance in Hong Kong. The integration push is also reflected in the Hong Kong government’s ongoing consultation to craft a five-year plan aligned with national development, with ‘integration’ emerging as the defining theme.

However, the opportunities come with a set of risks that are deeply intertwined with geopolitics and the erosion of Hong Kong’s distinct identity. Critics warn that as alignment deepens, the city could become less attractive as a neutral international hub, subject to the same regulatory constraints and political pressures that affect mainland firms. This is not merely a theoretical concern: Western sanctions, technology transfer restrictions, and a lack of trust in China’s legal environment could deter multinational clients and investors who value Hong Kong precisely because it operates under common law and has a free flow of information. For a startup like OKOsix, which relies on intellectual property and Western market access, any perception that it is a mainland Chinese entity could trigger scrutiny or tariffs that disrupt its supply chain.