Tink Labs

Travel tech / hotel smartphonesHong Kong

New to Unitard

💀 Dead / Bankrupt

Peak $1 BillionToday

~-100%

from peak

🦄
Became a unicorn
2017
📈
Peak valuation
$1 Billion ’17
💔
Became a Unitard
Jul 2019
💸
Last valuation
Wiped out

Capital raised

$160M

Total raised

$62.3K/day

Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 7.0 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: SCMP via TTG Asia (US$160M); TechCrunch reported more than $170M announced

Current status

Ended its Handy service in nearly all markets in Jul-Aug 2019 after laying off nearly all staff; UK subsidiary Tink Labs Europe wound up by court order Jan 2020 and dissolved Apr 2025

The rise & fall

7 moments · 2012–2020

The key moments.

2012

Founded in Hong Kong by Terence Kwok

Its Handy phones sit in hotel rooms, giving guests free calls, mobile data and city guides.

Global Venturing

Sep 2016

$125M round led by Foxconn's FIH Mobile

Sinovation Ventures joins; the company hints at a valuation above $500M.

Global Venturing

Apr 2017

The peak: valued at more than $1B$1B

Bloomberg reports a raise aimed at a valuation above $1B, and Tink Labs comes to be described as Hong Kong's first unicorn.

Bloomberg via BusinessDay

Nov 5 ’18

Reportedly raising up to $300M at $1.5B or more

TechCrunch says the round is in its final stages; no closing is ever announced.

TechCrunch

Jul 2019

Restructuring: Handy pulled from most markets

Kwok tells staff the company will split in two, and employees learn the service will end in China, Indonesia, South Africa and elsewhere.

Serviced Apartment News

Aug 2019

Handy goes dark — joins the Unitard Club 💔

After laying off nearly all staff, Tink Labs ends service in nearly every market; Hong Kong and Singapore hotel contracts pass to another operator.

TTG Asia

Jan 15 ’20

UK arm wound up by the court

Tink Labs Europe goes into compulsory liquidation; the company is dissolved in April 2025.

Companies House

$1Bof peak value erased · 7 years

How it happened

Tink Labs, founded in Hong Kong in 2012 by Terence Kwok, put its Handy smartphones in hotel rooms, giving guests free calls, mobile data and city guides. Foxconn's FIH Mobile backed it, leading a $125M round in 2016, and by 2017 it was widely described as Hong Kong's first unicorn, valued at more than $1B.

In late 2018 TechCrunch reported it was raising up to $300M at a valuation of at least $1.5B, but no closing was announced. Handy reached about 600,000 hotel rooms, yet in July 2019 the company laid off nearly all its staff and switched off service in most markets. It had raised about $160M. Its UK arm was wound up by court order in January 2020.

Source: SCMP via TTG Asia (Aug 27, 2019): the company had commanded a valuation of more than US$1B, raised US$160M and reached about 600,000 hotel rooms; TechCrunch (Nov 5, 2018): a source said an undisclosed 2017 deal took it past $1B, and it was raising up to $300M at a post-money of at least $1.5B (no closing was announced, so the peak is keyed to $1B). Bloomberg via BusinessDay (Apr 2017): raising about $40M aiming for more than $1B. Global Venturing (Sept 2016): $125M round led by FIH Mobile. FT via Global Venturing (Aug 1, 2019) and Serviced Apartment News (Aug 2019): near-total layoffs and market exits. Companies House 09356852: winding up commenced Jan 15, 2020; dissolved Apr 20, 2025.

Where they went

Terence Kwok
founder & CEO (led at peak and at shutdown)
Founder at Humanity
LinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-10-22. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (5)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-22 · Methodology · Leaderboard