Latest news with #MichaelChan
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bowtie Secures Series C Fundraising From Sun Life
New Funding Fuels Growth in Medical Insurance and Innovation in Preventive Healthcare HONG KONG, July 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Bowtie, Hong Kong's first virtual insurer[1], is proud to announce securing up to US$70 million in its Series C funding round. Led by Sun Life Hong Kong Limited ("Sun Life"), this marks the largest funding round for digital health insurers in Asia with a direct-to-consumer model. Bowtie continues to lead in Hong Kong's digital insurance market, ranking first in the direct channel[2], and securing the 9th position across all distribution channels in terms of new individual non-single premium policies sold[3]. With over US$80 million in Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR")[4] and more than 100% year-over-year growth, Bowtie is on track to exceed US$100 million ARR by 2025; In just six years, Bowtie has provided over US$16 billion in total protection amount for families in Hong Kong. Recognized as a top high-growth company in Asia by the Financial Times[5] and ranked number one in Hong Kong, Bowtie is positioned among the fastest-growing tech companies globally. The investment aligns with Sun Life's broader strategy to collaborate with innovative digital companies and enhance insurance accessibility. With Sun Life's continued support and backing, Bowtie will continue to operate under its current leadership as an associated company of Sun Life, with its own brand identity, distinctive culture and dedicated employee base. "Bowtie is simultaneously achieving larger scale and faster growth which validates our unique business model and reflects the public's strong trust in our commitment to treating customers fairly," said Michael Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of Bowtie. "Sun Life's continued partnership reinforces Bowtie's position as a mission-driven insurer, leveraging technology to better serve customers through simple and transparent products in a friendly digital setting. Going forward, Bowtie will continue to benefit from Sun Life's strong capital base and shared purpose of helping clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. We are grateful for Sun Life's continued trust and support." Bowtie takes pride in its operational efficiency and policy economics, generating over US$100 million in protection amount per employee, US$500,000 ARR per employee, and maintaining the same level of strong unit economics despite the continued growth and scaling, reflecting strong pricing and marketing discipline together with exceptional customer retention. "These results demonstrate the ability of our digital model to deliver exceptional efficiency and impact to customers, especially as we scale. We're doubling down on our core strengths, focusing on agentic artificial intelligence, health innovation, and talent development. Our investments in these areas will further enhance the customer experience and keep us ahead of the curve." said Fred Ngan, Co-Founder of Bowtie. "Sun Life has been a long-term, committed partner to Bowtie for almost seven years. We're very pleased to strengthen this partnership to support the next phase of growth," said Clement Lam, CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong Limited. "At Sun Life, we believe in creating possibilities through innovation and creativity. Through our collaboration with Bowtie, we are combining cutting edge technology with deep insurance expertise, to set standards in delivering meaningful and innovative transformation within the Hong Kong health insurance industry." This strategic investment will enable Bowtie to achieve ambitious goals, including securing a top 5 position in medical insurance in Hong Kong, measured by the number of new medical insurance customers, scaling preventive healthcare initiatives, and expanding into international markets. The funding will further solidify Bowtie's role as a rising insurer and digital health leader. [1]Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited is Hong Kong's very first virtual insurer authorized by the Insurance Authority under the fast track pilot scheme. [2]According to Insurance Authority's Provisional Statistics for Long Term Business 2024, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Bowtie Life ranked first in terms of the number of new individual non-single premium policies sold through Direct channel in Hong Kong. [3]According to Insurance Authority's Provisional Statistics for Long Term Business 2024, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Bowtie Life ranked in no.9 in terms of the number of new individual non-single premium policies sold through all channels in Hong Kong. [4]Data as of May 2025. [5]Bowtie is recognized by its No.1 ranking in Hong Kong and No. 65 placement in the Financial Times High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2025 list: About Bowtie Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited is an authorized life insurance company and Hong Kong's very first virtual insurer authorized by the Insurance Authority under the fast track pilot scheme. Its vision is to bridge the health protection gap and transform the way people access healthcare in Asia. Through digital technology, Bowtie makes health insurance more affordable and accessible for individuals and small-medium enterprises. To date, Bowtie has raised over HK$1.0 billion from Sun Life Financial and Mitsui & Co., providing more than HK$100 billion in protection amount to families. Learn more at About Sun Life Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2025, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1.55 trillion. For more information, please visit Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. Sun Life Financial Inc. is the holding company of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. Sun Life Hong Kong Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Bowtie Life Insurance Company Limited Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Spinoff
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
How do you follow up a Wellington icon like KC Cafe?
For owner and chef Michael Chan, the answer is Hei – the restaurant he always dreamed of opening. One of the many problems with modern TV cooking shows is the obsession with 'elevating' food from non-Western cultures. You'll recognise the kind of moment I mean: a contestant on Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, or some other food-adjacent programme will announce they are cooking something from their home country's repertoire of dishes. The middling TV-man-chef will confidently announce he's not worried about flavour, but fears the dish may end up looking a bit too 'rustic'. He makes the classic error of thinking a lack of physical height in a dish is the result of a lack of skill. I do get why. So much of the world has been influenced by the French principles of cookery, and it is easy to look past a dish that does not conform to some of these ideals: height, texture, colour, placement, contrast. Of course, I love a bit of clever plating. When it's done well, it's a visual treat and helps you navigate the flavours. But do we really want our nasi goreng served in a tower, with sphericated shrimp, spring onion espuma, chilli crisp floss and 'textures of lotus root'? Actually, maybe that does sound quite fun? But probably not. When I first heard of Hei, the new 'refined' Chinese restaurant on Cuba Street, I had my worries. In a city bursting with exceptional South East Asian restaurants, who was this supposed elevation really appealing to? Then I realised it was being opened by Michael Chan and the whole family from legendary Courtenay Place eatery KC Cafe. So, I parked my cynicism, went for dinner and had a chat with Michael about opening that difficult second restaurant. Michael first thought of opening Hei during the 2020 Covid lockdown. Like all of us, he had time to lean into that vague existential dread of what he was doing and where he wanted his life to go next. The result of that panic is Hei: his dream restaurant. 'I always loved cooking, but it was a bit hard at KC as the aim for that was to just make a living for the family. I haven't really had the chance to be creative with my dishes there,' he says. Too many of the things he was dreaming up simply 'weren't really suited for KC.' He ended up with dozens of notebooks filled with more complex and playful dishes, ones that would simply clog the well-oiled machine at KC Cafe. Opening a more formal, docket-based restaurant has been no easy task. Michael had zero experience in front-of-house service; at KC the process is to 'yell out the orders' and hope for the best. And like so many in hospitality, he's had to stare down waves of self-doubt. 'It's taken this long to build up the courage to do it,' he says. 'But I wanted to model for my kids that it's OK to fail. I mean, it's not great. But you learn and adapt.' Michael's speciality has always been Chinese cookery, especially from the Guangdong region. When designing the new venture, he wanted to try to change the Kiwi mentality. 'When people think of Chinese food, I think most people think of cheap takeaways. There is so much more to the cuisine,' he says. Take, for example, the pomelo and prawn salad (fun pub fact: pomelo is officially the largest citrus fruit). It is a dizzying combination of ingredients that is at once chaotic yet purposeful: tart green apple and bitter pomelo sit among red onion and fistfuls of vibrant, fresh Asian herbs: Thai basil, coriander, lemongrass, kaffir lime. There is heat from sambal and texture from peanuts and thinly sliced red onion. It is the epitome of elegance yet demonstrably flavour-led. It is exactly what Hei is designed to be. Inspiration for his dishes is drawn from many places, from videos he saw online to meals he has eaten overseas. He works backwards from what he has seen and tasted and reverse engineers the dishes in his own style. Like the golden pork chop and rice on the lunch menu, which is a classic in Hong Kong cafes, or the fried prawn balls his son became obsessed with in Singapore. Michael tried many times to recreate them, and found they were 'delicious with chilli oil velouté.' Char siu, too, has been developed further than is traditional. Instead of its conventional luminous pink, Micahel's sits deep and earthy with black flecks where the flames have licked at its extremities. Rather than using the customary pork butt, he opted for the much leaner loin. A move that in lesser skilled hands would have proven dry, but here it is unctuous and luxurious with its citrus and honey glaze singing sweetly. Another thing that sets Hei apart is the drinks list: a showcase of biodynamic and organic wines from producers like Bryterlater in North Canterbury and Decibel Wines from Hawke's Bay. This place is certainly not a BYO. The cocktail list is just as exciting. It was made in collaboration with Dee's Place, the bar downstairs that has a very strong claim to being the best bar anywhere in the city (if you haven't been before, go there right now and ask for a whiskey and freshly juiced green apple). The drinks incorporate many of the ingredients Michael uses in his cooking – for example, the Smacked Eastside has sesame oil and coriander in it. It is this level of care that speaks to Michael's passion for delivering something unexpected in the Chinese restaurant space. All of this is not to say that any of this elevation or refinement makes it inherently better than any other Chinese restaurant in town. What makes it so compelling is that this restaurant is truly a passion project. One where every single last decision has been painstakingly made by someone who understands food and hospitality. The velouté under the prawn balls is not a gimmick; it is there because Michael is absolutely certain that is where it should be. The cut selection on the various meat dishes has been made because he knows it will work and become something special. Hei means happiness in Cantonese, and after eating there and chatting with Michael, I cannot think of a more appropriately named restaurant anywhere in the world.
South China Morning Post
02-07-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
University of Hong Kong scientists explore growing organs with 3D printing tech
Scientists from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are attempting to integrate 3D-printed respiratory tissue with lab-grown 'mini-organs' to help patients in need of transplants in the future. Professor Michael Chan Chi-wai from HKU's Centre for Immunology and Infection said his team was looking to produce personalised 3D-printed airways for burn victims using organoids or 'mini-organs' grown from patients' own cells collected through a single oral swab. 'Airways are one of our strengths and an area we have dedicated significant time to. When people suffer from burn injuries, they may need to reconstruct their airway,' said Chan, who also belongs to the division of public health laboratory sciences at HKU's medical faculty. 'Existing technologies allow the 3D printing of an airway using biomaterials. But without the cells, it cannot perform the functions of an airway.' Organoids are developed using a person's stem cells and can mimic the function and structure of the actual organs of a specific patient. They can be used to test a certain person's reaction to medicine, vaccines or diseases. According to Chan, HKU is one of the world's leading institutions in the research and development of respiratory organoids. The university has set up a spin-off company called C2iTech, specialising in personalised organoid cultivation.
Zawya
23-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Fitch rates Zand at investment grade BBB+
Dubai - Zand, an innovative AI-powered Fintech and financial services group in the UAE, has announced that it has been assigned an investment grade credit rating of BBB+, with a stable outlook, from Fitch Ratings. Zand CEO Michael Chan stated, 'We believe Zand is the world's youngest bank to achieve an investment grade credit rating, and we are honored and humbled to receive this recognition from Fitch Ratings. As a start-up in the development phase, Zand has experienced rapid growth since becoming a fully licensed bank three years ago. We achieved breakeven in less than two years, being the key contributor to enable virtual asset service providers and Fintech in the UAE, and are empowering clients to unlock growth opportunities, and thrive in the digital transformation age. This is a validation of our strategy and a testament to the strength of our team, our shareholders, and the supportive regulatory environment of the UAE.' About Zand Bank Licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE and rated BBB+ investment grade by Fitch Ratings, Zand is an AI-powered bank founded to support the digital economy and bridge the gap between Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Our mission is to revolutionize the world of finance by leveraging AI, Blockchain Technology, and client-centric solutions to empower corporate, institutional, fintech, and wealth clients to thrive in the evolving digital economy. Our purpose is to empower innovators, ambitious leaders, and bold pioneers to shape the future of finance and unlock new opportunities for success. Zand combines the speed and flexibility of a fintech, with the security and strength of a fully licensed bank. Zand, the AI-powered bank for the digital economy. For more information, please visit For media inquiries, please email: media@
Mid East Info
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mid East Info
Park Regis Kris Kin Unveils Level 19 Lounge & Bar – A bold New Chapter in Dubai's Social and Culinary Scene
Park Regis Kris Kin Unveils Level 19 Lounge & Bar – A bold New Chapter in Dubai's Social and Culinary Scene Dubai, UAE – May 12th, 2025 — Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel Dubai proudly announces the official opening of Level 19 Lounge & Bar, a new pinnacle in Dubai's social and culinary landscape. Located on the 19th floor of this 5-star hotel, the sophisticated yet unassuming venue is perfect for the city's discerning tastemakers, offering an elegant fusion of modern global cuisine, artisan mixology, and elevated ambiance. A seamless meld of bold flavors and stylish design, Level 19 Lounge & Bar is more than just a lounge—it is an immersive experience. With sleek and reflective interiors akin to Dubai's skyline, this venue exudes Dubai's multicultural essence. Rich maroon, grey, and black interiors complemented by elegant silver accents provide for a dramatic yet embracing atmosphere. The vertical '19' motif punctuates the space, symbolizing its sky-high ambition and location in the building. The menu at Level 19 Lounge & Bar celebrates culinary artistry with selections crafted to intrigue and impress. From Golden-seared Scallops on Cauliflower Purée to the indulgent Tomahawk Steak, each offering is a masterclass in flavor and presentation. The culinary journey continues with globally inspired creations such as Teriyaki Beef Steak Kebabs and Herb Chicken with Rice Pilaf, each attesting to Dubai's traditional yet cosmopolitan cultural vibrancy. The cocktail selection is equally daring, with handcrafted concoctions like The L19 Knock Out and Pinky Butter On Top , drawing their origins from local inspiration and storytelling. These signature drinks, served with style and sophistication, embody the spirit of the lounge—a balance of understated flair and luxury, hence the venue's tagline of Sultry Sophistication . Michael Chan, General Manager of Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel, shared his vision, 'At Park Regis Kris Kin, we understand that today's guests seek more than just luxury—they seek meaningful experiences. Level 19 Lounge & Bar is designed to be just that: a place where social moments become memories, and where culinary innovation meets cultural authenticity. It's a celebration of Dubai's dynamic rhythm—elegant, energetic, and ever-evolving.' The official opening event was a glittering affair, drawing a distinguished guest list of media personalities, influencers, radio hosts, and representatives from some embassies. The evening highlighted Level 19 Lounge & Bar's mission to becoming a part of Dubai's hip cultural and culinary scene.
