Taiwan courts tech start-ups to drive economic growth

TAIPEI: Companies such as electric motor scooter firm Gogoro could hold the key to Taiwan’s economic growth.

In just three years, the start-up, which counts Japan’s Panasonic Corp as a strategic partner and Cher Wang, the founder of local smartphone maker HTC Corp as a key investor, raised US$150mil to develop the smartphone-synched bike, and a charging network for it. The Smartscooters went on sale last month, starting at around US$4,100.