TPEx Brings Startup Fundraising to Kaohsiung: 2026 DEMO DAY Sets a Fast Track to Capital

The 2026 Kaohsiung Startup Investment DEMO DAY | TPEx GISA Fundraising is jointly hosted by the Kaohsiung City Government Economic Development Bureau (EDB) [經濟發展局], TPEx, and Chengyan Innovation [誠研創新]. Registration is open until January 26, 2026, and the main event is scheduled for March 27, 2026, 13:00–16:30, at Kaohsiung Marriott Hotel.

A program built for “capital market readiness”

This is the first time TPEx is “hands-on” as a co-organizer in Kaohsiung, with the agenda packaging three elements into one pathway: (1) GISA (General Innovation and Start-up Acceleration Platform) [創櫃板] rules and positioning, (2) fundraising and investor-facing practice, and (3) practical business plan training. The organizers plan to select up to 10 teams, with 8 pitching on stage to investors and potential corporate partners, prioritizing real commercialization conversations rather than symbolic exposure.

Why the timing matters for founders

The pitch day arrives as Taiwan’s emerging-board market sentiment strengthens. Media-reported figures show the Emerging Stock Board (ESB) recorded 85 new entrants in 2025 and total trading value of NT$5,421.86 billion (NT$5,421.86 億). Separately, TPEx leadership has also set 2026 market goals, including 27 listings and 50 ESB listings, signaling continued supply of growth companies and investor attention.

Organizers and media have also reported fundraising outcomes from prior editions, but cross-team totals are not fully verifiable via a single public, standardized disclosure set. Treat those historical figures as directional, and watch for post-event follow-ups like team-level announcements, PoC or PoB updates, and financing disclosures.

Impact

Why it matters?

For Kaohsiung and southern Taiwan, this is a practical test of whether institutional capital-market infrastructure can be deployed locally, not just in Taipei-centered networks. For founders, the value is speed: clearer fundraising rules, investor-facing rehearsal, and a defined on-stage moment that can unlock partner conversations. For investors, it improves sourcing and standardization, while still requiring discipline, since early-stage funding and emerging-board pathways carry higher volatility and execution risk.

Statistics

Zoom-out

Taiwan’s multi-layer pathway is increasingly explicit: GISA focuses on guidance and equity fundraising but does not provide trading functionality, while the ESB acts as a pre-listing market with market-maker quoting and no daily price limit. That structure can accelerate growth financing, but it also raises the bar for governance, disclosure, and risk controls. Kaohsiung’s DEMO DAY is best viewed as a bridge: it does not replace fundamentals, but it can compress the time it takes for credible teams to meet the right capital.