SLINGSHOT 2019 Startup Competition

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Dave Ng is the Head of Southeast Asia for Eight Roads Ventures, based out of Singapore.

He comes with a track record of backing promising consumer, fintech and enterprise technology companies. Prior to this, he was a Venture Partner at B Capital Group, where he was first based in San Francisco and subsequently moved to Singapore to help launch the Asia office. At B Capital, Dave co-led investments into several tech companies globally, including Ninja Van, CXA Group, Icertis, Mswipe, Capital Match and Carro. He served on the Board of Capital Match, CXA Group and Ninja Van.

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Cristián is a Civil Industrial Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and holds a Master’s Degree in Innovation from Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (Chile). He began his career at Agrosuper in 2004 as Head of Product Development and, since 2011, he is leading the company’s Innovation Department. As Innovation Director, Cristián has implemented the company’s corporate innovation strategy, through intrapreneurship and open innovation, and built a portfolio of innovative projects that includes developing new products and adjacent businesses, optimizing industrial processes, rethinking sales and distribution, incorporating new and emerging technologies, and enhancing our relationship with our key stakeholders. Agrosuper is a Chilean company with over 60 years of history in the production and commercialization of proteins – chicken, pork, turkey, salmon, and processed meats – in over 67 countries. The company – a team of 14,000 collaborators – promotes sustainable development and production of high quality and safe food products, by incorporating innovation and technologies in all processes, while integrating all stakeholders in its daily operations.

Stephanie is an enthusiastic individual who appreciates cultural diversity in all aspects of life. She has been the driving force behind Amadeus Next, the leading travel tech startup community in Asia Pacific. Whether they need assistance with tech, travel expertise, customer reach, funding or referrals, Stephanie is the entry point for startups in APAC. Stephanie has a passion for new and creative ways of doing things and is a firm believer that endurance, commitment and courage to fail are crucial to success. She first joined Amadeus Asia Pacific in 2012, and has primarily held roles in Corporate Strategy and Business Development. Prior to Amadeus, she worked in the advertising industry in both Germany and Thailand. Stephanie holds a Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management and a BA in Media Design. For the past three years Stephanie has been named as one of the women to watch in the startup industry in APAC. In her free time you can find Stephanie at the gym or socializing with like-minded people.

As Investment Director of CIC Capital Ventures (formerly Emerillon Capital), Raghu Bharat drives the entire investment process, managing the deal flow, due diligence process and monitoring numerous companies post investment. He leads an international, multi-divisional and multi-disciplinary internal working group in artificial intelligence. In addition to his domain expertise, artificial intelligence, he has experience in IT and telecommunications. He holds member and observer positions on several boards. Raghu considers himself of service to management teams, with whom he builds collaborative and agile working relationships. His counsel is of great value to his collaborators, who often turn to him for insight long after and far beyond the bounds of their deal terms. Raghu has more than nine years of experience in venture capital, asset management, telecommunications and IT. He holds an MBA from McGill University and a Bachelors degree in Engineering.

15+ years’ experience as an accomplished business adviser across industries & cultures. Focused on developing innovation programs and disruptive initiatives. Implementing Digital Strategies and creating strong Ecosystems in InsurTech. Demonstrated leadership and coaching of competent teams with notable business achievements. Passionate about Life Insurance and its digital future.

Tim Kobe is a design leader, author and founder of the globally recognized strategic and experience design firm Eight Inc. For over 30 years in design and a leader in Innovation and Branded Experience, Eight Inc. has worked with companies such as Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Nike, Coke, Knoll and Citibank. The firm takes on an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, working across traditional disciplines including strategy, architecture, exhibition, interior design, product, communications and branding. Many projects have received international design awards and have been published across Asia, Europe, and the United States. His 11 studios and 200+ strategic designers and business creatives connect across 7 time zones and 3 continents. Graduating with honors in Environmental Design from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 1982, Kobe is now a trustee at his alma matter and serves as Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee. Prior to founding Eight Inc. in 1989, Kobe became a founding partner in West Office Design Associates, focusing on museum and exhibition design and responsible for the master planning of museums and for several science museum exhibitions globally. He has also worked with Herb Rosenthal and Associates, the American Broadcasting Company, Murray Gelberg and at The Burdick. Kobe serves on the Board of Directors for the Grabhorn Institute in San Francisco and is part of the The Design Masterplan Committee chaired by Economic Development Board in Singapore. He frequently lectures and works with students at universities including Art Center College of Design, California College of Arts and Crafts, the San Francisco Academy of Art, Insead, National University of Singapore and Temasek Polytechnic School of Design. Kobe is a keynote speaker and speaks on topics surrounding design, innovation, technology and business valuation for many internationally known forums. He has been featured and recognized for his work in prominent publications like Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Economist, Dezeen and Fast Company. His upcoming book, Return on Experience, published by ORO Editions will be released in 2019.

Mr. Hung is Director and Head, Advanced Incubation Centre at Flex, the Sketch-to-Scale® solutions provider that designs and builds intelligent products globally. His international work experience includes management roles with the Contraves Group, CAE Inc, and ST Engineering Electronics. He is also President of the Singapore Space and Technology Association, Singapore’s lead, industry association focused on developing the space technology industry. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hung was Centre Director for Middle East & North Africa Operations at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). There, he handled portfolios in aerospace, marine/offshore and super yacht sectors. In particular, he led the development of the space incubator unit that is presently EDB’s space office. Mr. Hung currently serves on the Board of the Air Transport Training College, Synspective Pte. Ltd., Space Generation Advisory Council, International Lunar Observatory Association, and is an ExCom Member of the Japanese Space Agency’s Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum. He also serves as: § Vice-President of the Singapore Institute of Aerospace Engineers (SIAE) § Co-Chair of the RSAF Aerospace Technology & Engineering Conference § Advisor to Transcelestial Technologies Pte. Ltd. § Advisor to NuSpace, an NUS STAR Labs spin-off § Impact Partner to Hong-Kong based Fresco Capital § Member, Singapore Tourism Board’s Conference Ambassador Programme § Member, International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Jonathan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, double majoring in Aerospace Science and Aviation Business Administration.

Janise leads the Developer Space @ Google Singapore - A home for Startups & Developers from around the region to learn, connect, engage, and be inspired. Located within the heart of Google’s Asia Pacific headquarters, Developer Space is the first physical space dedicated to developers within a Google office, providing the community with direct access to Google’s resources – people, programs, network, and technologies. Prior to Google, Janise was the Ecosystem Lead at Thomson Reuters Innovation Labs in Asia, driving partnerships and engagements within the financial markets community. Janise was also the General Manager of LEVEL3, an innovation ecosystem and collaborative workspace for startups, within Unilever. Janise is a whiskey affectionate and podcast junkie who loves playing with IoT toys.

Jordan Kostelac focuses on solving challenges in real estate at JLL through the creation and deployment of Property Technology (PropTech) platforms for the Asia Pacific region. Working with both internal and external stakeholders, he guides the exploration of how technology can positively disrupt built environments. Jordan worked for 12 years in FMCG operations management and later process improvement consulting. Since joining JLL, he has worked as a workplace strategy and change management consultant for many of JLL’s largest global clients. His interdisciplinary background lends a unique perspective that sits outside traditional real estate methods. He has a proven track record of success in aligning the requirements of operations teams with the strengths of their technology partners in large multinational organizations. His experience in project delivery has demonstrated the importance of a strategic approach. He understands how a strong aspirational direction aligned with strategic business goals can positively influence the success of organizational transformation. His time spent working across Asia, the United States, and Australia has strengthened his cross-cultural communication skills and ability to localize the application of global strategies. In addition to his professional endeavors, Jordan is Development Director for HKwalls, an internationally recognized non-profit street art festival that is transforming Hong Kong neighborhoods into galleries of public art. The intersection of these two passions creates opportunity to inject creativity into even the most traditional organizations.

LongHash Singapore CEO, Ex-McKinsey consultant/Digital McKinsey specializing in digital strategy & transformation for South East Asia based companies, particularly for Financial institutions; A decade of banking industry experience with in-depth knowledge of securities, corporate banking and commercial banking across Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and China. Master of Science from Singapore MIT Alliance and full scholarship from Nanyang Technology university in Singapore LongHash is a global blockchain incubator with 6 network offices that aims to accelerate the development and understanding of blockchain technology.

Emily got her start, co-founding Jemsoft, a machine learning and computer vision startup whose proprietary software spurred them on to acquisition by a publicly listed IoT company in 2017. Emily went on to co-found M8 Ventures, a venture capital fund with a concentration on product commercialization and sustained growth strategies. Since then, Emily has joined Microsoft as their Managing Director of Startups for ANZ & South East Asia where she is committed to growing startup initiatives in the region with a specific founder first focus.

Seah Kiat Seng is Founder, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Millennia Investment Management, an independent fund management firm based in Singapore specializing in Asian alternative investments, including Private Equity, Real Estate and Listed Equities. He has more than 25 years of institutional investment experience in Asia. Kiat Seng was formerly a Principal of Morgan Stanley & Co., where he spent nine years from 1990 to 1999 as a senior portfolio manager and pioneer member of its Asian Equities and Global Emerging Markets team, co-managing approximately US$4 billion of assets on behalf of sovereign, institutional and individual investors. He also founded and directed Morgan Stanley’s Asian real estate securities investment management business. Kiat Seng initiated Millennia’s Asian real estate private equity venture with Forum Partners, an international real estate investment firm, from 2004 to 2008. He participated in deal origination and served as a member of the investment committee. He also initiated a numbers of successful joint venture investments with large Government-linked corporations as well as publicly listed Asian real estate groups. Prior to founding Millennia in 2003, Kiat Seng was involved in private equity investing in Asia as a Managing Director of Springboard Harper Investment from 2002 to 2003. He worked at Barclays de Zoete Wedd (“BZW”) from 1988 to 1989 as a senior investment analyst. He also spent four years in public administration, first with the New Zealand Government and then in the Singapore Ministry of Finance. Kiat Seng holds an MBA (with Honors) from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and a Bachelor degree from the University of Auckland under the Colombo Plan Scholarship jointly awarded by the Singapore and New Zealand Governments. As valedictorian, he was awarded the University of Auckland Scholarship and FER Noble Memorial Prize. Kiat Seng is a Board member of Ren Ci Hospital in Singapore, and a former Board Director of CapitaRetail Japan Fund (2005-2009) and Ascendas China Industrial and Business Park Fund (2007-2009).

As Managing Director of Via ID and Deputy General Manager of Mobivia Groupe, Yann Marteil has the ambition to transform Via ID into a leading international business operating in the new forms of mobility. Via ID is a business accelerator and a corporate VC arm, incubating and investing in projects linked to urban mobility, connected vehicles, ride-hailing, vehicle-sharing and other mobility services in general. Currently, Via ID has supported and invested in around twenty start-ups in Europe, USA and Asia. Following his economic, political and commercial studies (Sciences Po Paris & HEC), Yann Marteil began his career in the United States where he set up the subsidiaries of freelance.com. Upon his return to France and prior to Via ID, Yann has held various executive positions across several leading MNCs, from being the Finance and Operations Director at Hachette Livre, Business Development at Monoprix, to the Managing Director at Primavista. In 2015, he joined Via ID to assist the Group's venture into the new mobility sector. Via ID is part of Mobivia Groupe, the leading multibrand car maintenance and servicing business in Europe (with Norauto, Auto 5, Midas, ATU, Carter-Cash, Synchro Diffusion, Bythjul and Skruvat) and a major player in the new mobility sector. Mobivia Groupe is made up of 21,000 people in 19 countries working on the following mission: Making Mobility Easier.

Kuo-Yi Lim is a Managing Partner at Monk's Hill Ventures, a tech venture fund investing in early stage startups in Southeast Asia. Most recently, he was the CEO of Infocomm Investments, a $200M venture fund based in Singapore investing in technology startups globally. At Infocomm Investments, Kuo-Yi led investments in Twilio (NYSE:TWLO), Dataxu, Reebonz, Quid, Gengo and other leading startups. Kuo-Yi has been a founder, early employee, mentor and angel investor of early-stage technology startups spanning the US and Asia. He was a senior sales executive at Encentuate (acq. by IBM) and Reputation Technologies (acq. by Security Sources), and co-founder of SportsHook. Kuo-Yi graduated from MIT with B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering.

Clarence Tan is currently the founder and CEO of Origgin Pte Ltd and Enlop Pte Ltd., which helps to aid and fund the venture co-creation of deep tech innovation by facilitating joint development with large companies. He is also currently a director of STT Connect Pte. Ltd, a private cloud service provider and a joint venture between STT GDC Pte. Ltd. (wholly-owned by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd.) and Origgin Pte Ltd. His experience involves successfully launching a number of technology start-ups, such as GlobalRoam Group Ltd, Perfect Innovation Pte Ltd, and Pinnz Pte Ltd. A graduate of the University of Southern Queensland, he pursued an MBA at National University of Singapore (NUS).

With nearly 20 years of experience in the Intellectual Property (IP) industry, Jason Loh has founded Piece Future in 2016. He is an innovator at heart with a mission to drive the growth of companies through the power of intellectual property. He is an advocate of the active utilization of intangible assets and is an expert in anchoring IP to business strategies. In 2017, he had created the world’s first IP innovation start-up competition, IPHatch®, to help start-ups leverage on multinationals companies IP portfolio. Jason also holds multiple high-profile positions - Director of IIPCC Singapore, Asia’s Executive Advisor to UK’s Institute of Innovation Knowledge Exchange (IKE); Managing Partner of i2P Ventures start-up incubator and Partner of True Vine Capital Partners Pte. Ltd. With these profiles and unique IP investments eco-system, he constantly seeks for breakthroughs and making contribution to the IP community.

Chen Shun is currently the Group Strategy & Corporate Affairs Manager of WWRC Group. WWRC Group is a Pan-Asian Chemical Distributor, with a presence in 16 Asian Cities. As Group Strategy Manager, Chen Shun is in charge of charting the future growth of the Group through overseas expansion, JV/partnerships and M&A. Prior to joining WWRC Group, Chen Shun worked in banking at Citibank and OCBC. Chen Shun graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a First Class Honors Degree in Bachelor of Engineering (Materials Engineering).

Prior to joining the private sector, Crispian had started his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore where he learned and advanced Singapore’s diplomacy with the Middle East and African countries and then spent 3 years in United Nations New York to develop good relations with all countries in international forums. He then joined Singapore Infocomm Development Authority to help Singapore attract international talents to contribute to Singapore’s IT development. After leaving public sector, Crispian joined the private sector where he has over 19 years of experience in the IT and Education sector across Asia Pacific collaborating with Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) to help faculties and professors prepare students learn Design Thinking and apply technology skills for their careers. After Cisco Systems (Cisco Networking Academy program), Crispian joined SAP in 2006 to establish the SAP University Alliances (UA) program in Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region. Together with a team of 8 people, Crispian has grown the program to nearly 1,000 UA member universities in Asia. Crispian has in the past few years transformed the SAP University Alliances program in APJ to a wider scope to help students and faculties Learn, Apply, Share, be Recruited, and creating Impact. This is to harness the talents and passions of millennials and youths to make a big impact in the communities leveraging on technology to help make the world a better place and innovate with purpose. Last year, Crispian has taken the Program one notch higher by building a purpose-driven SAP Next-Gen community including academics, startups, accelerators, corporations and citizen groups to leverage new technologies to fulfill our commitments to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to uplift education, end poverty, protect the planet, fight diseases, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. Crispian has also been a Design Thinking coach imparting innovation knowledge and skills of Design Thinking to faculties and students in China, India, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore and Taiwan. In 2015, Crispian attained 2 certifications in two training courses on “Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA)” and “Implement Design Thinking” administered by the Singapore Government Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and DesignCouncil Singapore. In February 2017, Crispian was also selected to participate in the Global SAP Social Sabbatical program. Together with 11 other highly talented SAP colleagues, they converged in Cape Town, South Africa for 1 month to help social enterprises and NGOs develop good sustainable business plans. Specifically, Crispian in a small team of 3 worked in the education space to help a social enterprise, TSiBA Education, come up with good business plan to fund talented disadvantaged youths in South Africa who would otherwise not be able to get a good education. Crispian is based in Singapore and spends his quiet moments reading up on Christian literature, politics and finance or learning to cook whilst travelling around the world. Some memorable places include the Sabi Sands reserve in South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Russia and Tibet. Crispian also dotes on his two dogs – Clover and Cleo – two mini-schnauzers.

Ludovic brings 15 years of global experience at Sony in venturing, innovation and strategy. As a core member of Sony Innovation Fund (SIF) since its inception, some of his recent SIF investments include Ridecell, Miles Matternet and StrongArm. In addition to leading SIF’s activities in areas such as Mobility, Drones, FinTech and Blockchain, his current role puts him at the forefront of identifying and shaping opportunities to strengthen Sony’s business and technology partnerships with start-ups. Ludovic was previously at Sony’s global headquarters in Tokyo, where he ran strategic assessments, mid and long-term technology perspectives and financial valuations to foster Sony’s Intellectual Property strategy. Before that, he spent several years as Corporate Strategist in London, New-York and Paris, spanning the entire spectrum of Sony’s Electronics, Gaming, Content, Financial Services, Telecommunications & B2B activities. A French native, Ludovic holds an MSc in Information & Communication Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden, as well as an MSc in Industrial Engineering & Management from the École Centrale in France.

Nikhil Kapur is a Partner at STRIVE. An entrepreneur by background and developer by training, he leads the fund’s activities across South Asia. After building a profitable media-tech venture in India, he completed his MBA in Finance from NUS Business School. A Computer Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering, he previously developed the first version of Excel for mobile while at Microsoft, deploying to over 10M users. He was recently listed as Forbes 30-Under-30 in Asia and also runs a popular VC blog: grayscale.vc

Clément Guillemot is the Partnerships Manager of Via iD, the VC arm of the European leader in vehicle maintenance Mobivia (€3.5Bn turnover & 20,000 employees in 18 countries). With offices in France, Berlin, Singapore and San Francisco, Via iD accelerates and invests in new mobilities startups globally (GO-JEK, Drivy by Getaround, Swiftly, Heetch, Ubigo...). Prior to joining Via iD, Clément served as Business Development Manager for Business France Invest New York, helping American companies and startups expand in France. He previously worked at Total, working on new energies projects in the MENA Region, and for SNC-Lavalin in Montreal. Clément holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering from IMT Lille Douai and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Paris Dauphine University.

Part of the team that developed the H1N1 vaccine, Fareena is a former molecular geneticist who left the lab and research in brain cancer suppressors to explore opportunities in business. Fareena graduated with an MBA from the University of Toronto where she focused on Design Thinking and Strategy. She found her calling in business innovation and today, Fareena leads tech implementation for Walmart Canada where she is responsible for the effective delivery of large scale projects such as online grocery, ML forecasting in logistics, next generation Wi-Fi and in-store applications. Fareena also founded and continues to lead the Walmart Innovation Community (WIC), a grassroots organization which has since been adopted internationally. When she’s not working, you can probably find her on a silent meditation retreat or backpacking overseas.

Stéphane Gervais has more than 25 years of experience in the high-tech industry as global marketing, business, projects, and product designer. He has worked for multi-national companies in Europe and in Asia (including 10 years in Singapore). Stéphane also has experience in emerging technologies and markets. His current position is executive VP Strategic Innovation at LACROIX Group : Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT), new technologies, electronics, smart mobility and smart city are some of his favorite’s topics. Stéphane holds a Doctorate degree (Ph. D) in Electronics from the University of Bordeaux (France) and an MBA degree from Newcastle University, Australia.

Yeow Hin has over 29 years of experience in business development, marketing, management and new ventures creation within the Energy, Government and Technology sectors in US, Europe and ASEAN. He joined GE in 2007 progressing through various roles in Corporate, Energy Services and currently, Global Growth. Currently, he is responsible for driving GE’s growth in Singapore and Brunei, with a focus on building new capabilities & capacity, strengthening partnerships & eco-systems and enhancing synergies across GE’s teams. Yeow Hin began his leadership journey with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) in 1990. He held diverse responsibilities including industry development, venture capital, Chief Information Officer and Chief Knowledge Officer. He also served 2 international stints, heading up EDB's regional offices in Los Angeles, USA and London, UK. Yeow Hin holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Rajiv Madane is a business focused FinTech leader, with over 25 years of Banking & Payments technology and consulting experience, covering the Asia Pacific region. He has worked with multinational companies in USA, Europe, India and Singapore and helped grow their business in the region. Rajiv started his career by creating the world’s first touch screen treasury solution and successfully launching it across European markets. He later worked in leadership positions with global FinTech companies like FIS, Wipro, ACI Worldwide and Fiserv. Rajiv now heads the xLabs Innovation Group at Virtusa. As part of this role, he was involved in the launch of the APIX platform, the world’s first online marketplace and sandbox for collaboration between Banks and FinTechs. APIX is an initiative of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), IFC and ASEAN Bankers Association. APIX was launched at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2018 by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Ms Sharon Goh is the Regional Innovation Manager for Total Marketing & Services Asia Pacific since December 2015. An energy and design innovation expert who has worked in Singapore and the Netherlands, Sharon has over 9 years of experience in managing innovation projects and business startup partnerships across 23 countries in the Asia Pacific and Middle East. Many of her projects involve digital, mobility and sustainable technologies that morph the energy industry she’s working in recent years. Since 2018, she helped the Total’s Asia Pacific and Middle East region win 7 global innovation awards. Prior to her current role, Sharon worked in the global brand strategy team at Shell Headquarters and in the retail fleet team at Shell Singapore. She was a Dutch government scholar in Masters of Science - Strategic Product Design in TU Delft, The Netherlands.

Sophia Van is currently the Global Product Strategy Leader at Mercer. She is responsible for defining the global digital & product strategy, building internal and external partnership, providing leadership and leading innovation efforts in order to help the organization to stay abreast of technology trends and to help the business anticipate and better serve clients’ changing needs - as a result of digitization, urbanization, and society challenges - with innovative technology solutions. Prior to her current engagement, Sophia was the Global Health Technology Leader and Health CTO for Growth Markets at Mercer and Vice President, Strategy & Innovation and Big Data & Smart Analytics Lead at Swiss Re. Sophia has rich expertise in various disruptive topics across P&C and L&H such as Connected Health & Wellness, Telematics and Driverless cars, Big Data & Smart Analytics, IOT, Dynamic Underwriting, and Artificial Intelligence. Sophia also has rich experience leading sales operation, CRM, SEO, analytics, and strategy development for insurance and healthcare industries. Sophia is the author of various articles about impact of technology on different lines of insurance, a frequent speaker at many industrial and tech conferences, and a frequent mentor for startups in Asia. Sophia received an MBA from Duke University where she earned the prestigious scholarship, title “Fuqua Scholar”- an honor given only to top students. She was also a bachelor scholar at Nanyang Technological University. She holds certificates in Digital Marketing, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Mr Thomas Zhuo joined Sodexo in Nov 2018 as the Digital Partnerships Director for the APAC region. He oversees strategic partnerships with start-ups and large corporates to leverage digital technologies and innovations to improve Sodexo’s product and service offerings. He is also a member of the Sodexo Ventures team supporting investments into start-ups in APAC. Mr Zhuo has a background in Business Strategy, Digital Transformation and Public Policy, working in companies like Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), and Singapore Post Limited. He played a key role in conceptualising and securing government support for the $4.5B expansion project at RWS, in addition to the various strategic initiatives to enhance the tourism appeal of RWS enabling the company to secure a 3-year renewal of its casino license. At Singapore Post, he was instrumental in establishing the Centre of Innovation and the Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub that delivered a quantum leap to the company’s capabilities. Beginning his career in the government service, Mr Zhuo has served in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of National Development, where he worked on various policy portfolios spanning industry strategy and development, investment promotion, tax incentives, resource allocation, climate change, public housing and estate rejuvenation. Mr Zhuo is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA), Singapore’s lead industry association focused on supporting the development of the space technology industry. He is key in shaping the association’s strategic directions and chairs the Finance and Human Resource sub-committees.

I am an Innovation practitioner and advocate for open innovation and entrepreneurship. I lead ISPIM Special interest group on Innovation Management Methods for Industry and I am a hub leader for Melbourne chapter of OneHealthTech grassroots community that aims for a better inclusion in healthtech. As a recipient of a Vice Chancellor Research Fellowship at RMIT, I contribute to the development of Global Business Innovation Enabling Capability Platform.

- Regional leader in driving business strategy and execution, partnership (TMT, Fintech) and digital transformation in Financial Service industry, combining 10 years+ of consulting and hands-on experience at retail & corporate banking, insurance and digital spaces - Adjunct assistant professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong for Master of Fintech program, guest lecturers at universities and regular speakers at internationally recognised events and conferences

Mr. George GODA obtained his Masters degree in Science and Engineering and MBA. He begins his career in heavy electric related institute of Toshiba implementation, in alliance with consumer Electronics Company in Sweden. His responsibility was in the product planning of white goods by offshore production in China, Thailand and Europe. He then joined Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which carried the whole world communication device technology business of Motorola. He was involved in building corporate strategy for telecommunication fields at corporate marketing. He continued his career path by joining Nobot, participating in smartphone advertisements, primarily expanding to overseas as company's Marketing Director. He led all the events and marketing, representing the company. After the buyout of Nobot by KDDI group, he adjusted the M&A, and develop overseas expansion plan of KDDI group subsidiaries until March 2012. At present, he is co-founder of 01Booster. 01Booster is a seed accelerator, which focuses on Asian market. They collaborate with Japanese large to middle size companies to support startups. They also support Japanese rural area and international business.

Edmas Neo is CEO of Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE). He joined ACE in 2017 bringing over 20 years of technology consulting, innovation programme management, entrepreneurship development and business advisory experience to the organisation. As CEO, Edmas leads in strategic execution of ACE’s mission in building a vibrant Singapore startup ecosystem. Under his leadership, ACE’s has strengthened its support for startups across all stages and has expanded its International Centre into China and Thailand. He has led in the setup of a connected ecosystem comprising over 25,000 startups across 16 cities that supports open innovation and startups growth. Prior to joining ACE, Edmas, was Regional Director, Partnership and Collaborative Innovation at Singapore Innovate, a Singapore government wholly owned private venture capital firm and deep-tech startup builder. During his term, he initiated the TAGPASS accelerator with a portfolio of over 70 startups. Edmas has strong interest in innovation and he also played a pioneering role in driving corporate innovation initiatives in Singapore. Edmas earned an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical (& Electronics) Engineering from Nanyang Technological University.

SJ Lim is an active participant in the entrepreneurship development ecosystem, and he is passionate about sharing his own entrepreneurship journey, with the wisdom of being in the corporate world for a good 25 years. He is a good sounding board for strategy development and creating sustainable businesses. He enjoys seeking new solutions to improving community well-being and solving global challenges in this disruptive era.

Anuj is the CEO & Co-Founder of Startup-O which is South East Asia’s largest platform for startup assessments, investment & venture building. The fast-growing platform community has 1300+ startups from across 40+ countries along with a vast network of global experts and partner institutions from across 15 countries. He is driven by the vision of democratising innovation by enabling deserving entrepreneurs to build their ventures with access to capital & global networks. At the same time, the platform approach serves the investors with a transparent & data-driven approach to build a diversified portfolio of high traction tech startups. Anuj gained his expertise in ‘Go To Market’ domain scaling businesses over last 20+ years across markets in North Asia, China, India & South East Asia. His career spanned across FMCG companies like Procter & Gamble, Glaxo Smith Kline Beecham, Wipro & BIC followed by successful scaling of a F&B startup in SEA region before he co-founded Startup-O in early 2016. He is a strong contributor to the Singapore & Asian startup ecosystem, and as such, he has a deep understanding of the concerns & vast access to various stakeholders including institutions, government agencies, experts, founders & investors. He has trained over 160+ startup founders via a series of structured bootcamps in Singapore. He lives in Singapore with his family since 2001. A strong proponent of the ‘Pay it Forward’ philosophy, he actively shares his knowledge and experience at various regional forums.

Oko Davaasuren is a Regional Director of South East Asia at Techstars since June 2015. Oko is a global entrepreneur from Mongolia. Oko lived in the United States for 10 years. Oko has developed numerous companies and client services. Oko has had a chance to learn and work with many global leaders and groups. Oko has 9 years of experience being an entrepreneur, meanwhile simultaneously giving back to the community by leading efforts that have designed and shaped the Mongolian startup ecosystem. Previously, Oko has been a Regional Director of South East Asia at UP Global Network and Community since 2011 and launched Startup Mongolia to drive economic growth and quality training and resources for early stage startups and entrepreneurs.

Pauline Sim started her banking career serving the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segments of the bank, covering all banking and financing requirements that SMEs have in the 15 years of her career. In 2015, she was part of the team that setup The FinLab, a Joint Venture between UOB Ltd and SGInnovate, to accelerate the best and brightest FinTech start-ups from all over the world looking to land in Singapore and capture the ASEAN market. The FinLab’s companies is seeing good success with many of them being recognized at the Singapore FinTech Festival since 2016, and getting business traction and funding. In 2018, seeing the need to support the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) looking to adopt technology and transform, The FinLab launched Singapore’s first acceleration programme for SMEs. The 11 SMEs that participated did pilots with innovative tech solutions shortlisted by The FinLab. This year, The FinLab brought the programme to Thailand and Malaysia, looking to accelerate 15 SMEs growth through digital adoption. Pauline covers partnership with tech ecosystem partners for both UOB and The FinLab, and also Co-Heads The FinLab. She was elected into the executive committee of Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), the association for the FinTech community in Singapore, and served as the Lead for Women in FinTech between 2017 to 2019, during which the committee showcased and amplified the female fintech leaders in the community.

Paul co-founded Raiven in 2018 and brings 20 years of investing, operating, and strategic planning to a new and differentiated set of funds that leverage, with Raiven Fund A, the advantages of Canada's early stage technology eco-system coupled with the operating metrics and strategy of its Silicon Valley-based team members. Raiven Fund A invests in emerging technology companies that demonstrate a high potential for scalability, have strong business fundamentals and leverage Canadian structural advantages. Raiven Fund B invests in growth stage companies with proven market adoption primed for growth and exits resulting in strong performance for Raiven's investors. With offices in Toronto, Calgary, London, New York, Singapore, Zurich, and Silicon Valley, Raiven is led by seasoned industry professionals with long tenures in building and investing in technology companies and large-scale R+D. The principals combine their deep network of successful technology leaders, experienced company operators and investors to create and capture value.

Christian Cadeo is currently the Managing Partner, Asia for Big Idea Ventures. Big Idea Ventures is a new alternative protein venture capital fund/accelerator based in New York and Singapore. It is anchored by investments from Temasek Holdings and Tyson Food (NYSE: TSN/Fortune 100 company).

Prior to this Christian was a seasoned operator with experience in bringing US based startups to Asia. His first startup was at AdMob which was eventually acquired by Google for US$750MM. The second startup was JUST which has raised US$372MM from Founders Fund, Horizon Ventures and Eduardo Saverin. There he was the 1st employee in Asia-Pacific as well as the first on the ground person out of the three alternative protein Unicorns (JUST, Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat). Recently he was at Domo where he joined pre-IPO as the 1st employee in Southeast Asia. Domo had raised close to US$700MM from investors such as Benchmark, Jeff Bezo and TPG. The company IPO on NASDAQ in 2018.

Christian also has extensive experience working at some of the largest technology companies in the world. He spent four years at Google managing the mobile and enterprise division in Southeast Asia. Earlier in his career he worked at Microsoft managing commercial development within the online division.

Jai Thampi is an established thought leader in digital transformation and corporate innovation, and recipient of 'Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders' global award for 2019. Presently serving as Senior Vice President of Strategy at Schneider Electric, he is also the founder of Artha Strategies, an advisory consulting firm in Singapore where he helps peer C-level executives envision transformation roadmaps and accelerate digital innovation. Prior to this, he held senior leadership roles at Cisco, Electrolux, Linksys-Belkin, and Philips. Jai is passionate about mentoring entrepreneurs into leaders of tomorrow, and serves on the Board of Advisors of various startups.

Arnaud Brolly is Head of Portfolio Evolution & Product Innovation at SITA.aero. He is a digital transformation leader with 18 years of experiences in IT industry Arnaud is recognized as a subject matter expert in Enterprise Mobility Solutions, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain technologies. He is also responsible for “Start-ups- Corporations” collaboration program to bring innovation transfer to market faster. Prior to SITA, Arnaud worked within the defence industry, retail, supply chain and Telecom, where he held several positions in sourcing, partnership and product management (B2B & B2C) for global corporations, in France, China and Switzerland Arnaud holds master’s degrees in software engineering, Business Administration and International Relations. He is based in Singapore since 2013.

Atsushi Taira worked for the SoftBank group for more than 12 years. In 2003, he was CMO of Yahoo! Japan Corporation, in-charge of B2C revenue and the traffic for all services. In 2008, he was CEO of MySpace Japan, a JV between News Corp and SoftBank Corp. and was involved in the early stage of Social Media. In 2010, he was SVP of Global Business Strategy at SoftBank Mobile Corp., supporting Masa Son’s vision. The company formed JVs in India, Singapore and Indonesia and invested in startups in Silicon Valley and India, and operated the subsidiary companies. Atsushi co-founded Hike, a messaging company in India. Hike boasts more than 100 million registered users, and is now a unicorn with more than $1 billion valuation. He served in InMobi, another unicorn from India, as a board member from 2012 to 2016. From 2013, he relocated to Silicon Valley to manage strategic directions in the US, supporting US subsidiaries and Silicon Valley investments. He joined Mistletoe Inc., founded by Taizo Son, in Feb 2016 as Chief Growth Officer and Representative Director and is traveling Tokyo, Silicon Valley, India and Southeast Asia regularly to find and grow innovative startups.

Coming soon.

Hany Soliman comes across with 16 years of diversified experience in business development and strategic management serving SMEs and entrepreneurs in several countries and across different sectors; Banking “CIB”, Document Management “Xerox” and Telecom “MCI Worldcom”. Currently Hany is heading CIB’s Innovation & Digital Strategic Alliance dep. holding the responsibility of articulating the strategy to serve the unbanked segment through mobile products and payment solutions to achieve financial inclusion. On the other hand supports startups and entrepreneurship ecosystem to complement the Innovation department’s business proposition and position CIB as the FinTech hub in the Egyptian market, more over introducing innovation inside CIB walls and promote intrapreneurship to hack many of the bank’s internal challenges by applying design thinking methodologies. Earlier Hany was heading the Business Banking Development for CIB, serving and supporting SMEs starting 2010 by setting a differentiated business model and introducing different financial and non-financial solutions to the SME market with a focus on positioning Business Banking as one of the best SME service providers. Throughout his career, Hany has participated in many strategic initiatives and programs as an advisor and mentor to SMEs/Entrepreneurs on how to benefit from banking services and how to have access to finance at different stages of their lifecycle along with his angel investment activities that got him deeply engaged with several startups in the market. His knowledge was backed up by holding ICFA from Chartered Institution for Securities and Investment in London and an MBA from Phoenix University.

Formerly with Dragon Law and a startup founder. Currently managing VC and startup ecosystem partner relationships across ASEAN, leading strategic startup initiatives and program.

A pioneer in Israel’s agrifood-tech investment community, Nitza brings more than a 25 years of experience in early-stage investments in healthcare and agrifood and a vast entrepreneurship background. Nitza is currently the CEO of Singapore-based Trendlines Agrifood Pte. Ltd. and the Vice Chair of Trendlines Agrifood Innovation Centre Pte. Ltd. Previously she served as the CEO of the Trendline Group's Israel Incubators, a group of incubators focused on agrifood-tech and healthcare, managing a USD ~130 M portfolio. Prior to joining the Trendlines group, Nitza served as the VP Business Development at TechnionSeed, a technological incubator founded by the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. She also managed Business Development at Rafael Development Cooperation; and was the CEO of Clal Life Sciences. Nitza holds a Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Tel Aviv University and an M.Sc., Summa Cum Laude, from Tel Aviv University.