Louisa Zhang, head of investments, APAC at HSBC Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.
Louisa Zhang joined the HSBC Ventures team as its first member in Asia four years ago and now oversees a team of 10 across Hong Kong and India.
Zhang joined HSBC Ventures in 2022 from an early-stage venture studio in Hong Kong. She also worked as an associate director at Swiss investment bank UBS.
She navigated several early challenges, such as developing an effective governance framework for venture investments in the region, and explaining to stakeholders in the bank how VC investing requires a more agile and streamlined process compared with other types of corporate development activities.
Building a strong partnership with business and functional leaders also took time. She says this has become easier, as the unit now has concrete examples of how equity stakes in startups have helped the bank.
“A lot of Chinese companies are setting up overseas; some are setting up headquarters in Hong Kong, Singapore, and even Europe. We are seeing a lot of exploration of markets outside of China.”
The ventures team in Asia focuses mostly on fintech technologies, especially in the areas of payments, lending and wealth management, as well as emerging technologies in AI and digital assets. China is an exciting investment focus for the team, especially in understanding its open-source AI technologies, she says, which differ to the US, which works on more of an AI software subscription model. She also sees a lot of potential in Chinese consumer and business applications, which have seen big success with the likes of TikTok.
An investment trend that she sees taking off centres on the concept of Chinese businesses going international.
“As a bank, how we capture that and service this category is a big focus for us. We have done quite a few investments there,” says Zhang. “A lot of Chinese companies are setting up overseas; some are setting up headquarters in Hong Kong, Singapore, and even Europe. We are seeing a lot of exploration of markets outside of China.”
India and the Middle East are also important markets for the ventures team.
The Rising Stars are early-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2026 here.
