Herbin Koh

David Yi (Ethos VC) a.k.a "The VC who hates most VCs" on his Personal Journey and Perspective on Growth:  "As an eight-time founder with two exits, I've seen the landscape from multiple angles. It's not about being a hero but about building a team, learning, and evolving. Whether it's in education or tech, the journey is about adapting and finding your path, not just in Korea but globally." https://lnkd.in/gVduV3MQ #startupswithseoul Chang (CK) Kim

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🙌 Welcome back to Startup Wednesdays, featuring #VC, #founder & #operators here in South-East Asia. For this week, we have Pat Naranpat Thitipattakul, Investment Director at ORZON Ventures 💭 What does Orzon Ventures focus on? The idea is to combine the flexibility and decision-making expertise of a traditional VC with the extensive resources and ecosystem of a large corporate entity like OR. This approach aims to help startups grow by leveraging OR's existing customer base, infrastructure, and market presence. Orzon Ventures focuses on investing in startups particularly in sectors like mobility, lifestyle and food and beverage. The goal is to find innovative solutions that can benefit from OR's resources and customer network, ultimately fostering startup growth and corporate synergy. 💭 What motivated you to join 500 ? Unlike many who are determined to become venture capitalists,I initially applied for a position to manage an accelerator program at Disrupt, which was run by one of the GPs of 500 TukTuks. My interest in startups was piqued when a friend invited me to participate in a hackathon, which turned out to be an exhilarating experience. The fast-paced environment & the opportunity to connect with innovative founders inspired me to apply for the accelerator manager position. During the interview process, the CEO offered me a dual role: managing the accelerator program & joining the venture capital team. Despite my initial unfamiliarity with venture capital, I accepted the challenge. This dual role allowed me to witness the entire journey of startups, from their inception at hackathons to becoming fully-fledged companies. 💭 What are the biggest challenges for Thai startups? The Thai market faces significant funding challenges, with limited early-stage VC funds & a reliance on CVCs that invest mainly in Series A and beyond, creating a funding gap for earlier stages. Investors in Thailand are risk-averse & while there are fragmented angel investors, their limited capital makes funding difficult. This forces many Thai startup founders to reach profitability quickly or bootstrap, which can lead to better investment terms but is challenging. Additionally, foreign investors show interest but often lack confidence due to difficulties understanding the local ecosystem. 💭 What has been the biggest challenge as a VC in Thailand? For Orzon, the biggest challenge has been finding startups that synergize well with OR's existing operations. This adds extra criteria to our investment decisions, such as ensuring the new company does not overlap with current offerings and that there is cultural compatibility between founders and Orzon. 👉 For more news like this on the Southeast Asia startup and tech scene, make sure to hit the "Follow" button to stay updated 🚀 #Thailand #tech #innovation

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Investors need to hold founders accountable to the deliverables they promised. In this case, Wei Zhuang (Lenard) Tan needs to eat pickled fish. He made a post some time back about promising to eat a spoonful of Surströmming 🤢 (pickled fish) if Ailytics won the “Most Liked Startup award” at the ConTech Summit. And since VCs never forget… We know Wei Zhuang to be a man of his word, and sponsored the Surströmming (ikr, perpetuating the impression of VCs being big spenders 🤭).  After our monthly meeting, we gathered at our patio to watch him deliver on that promise. Needless to say it was a lot of fun, mostly for the bystanders. (including his co-founder Prateek Manocha) We’re happy when founders make good progress - milestones are worth celebrating. Or in this case, inducing a forfeit for. Enjoy the video. Any suggestions on the next odd thing we should feed him next?

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We believe that 2025/26 will see a resurgence of new generation of fintech and financial innovation opportunities across the economies of #SEAsia and #India. As open data architecture, digital public Infra, cross border solutions, financial innovation across verticals, and digital evolution of SMEs reshape the real economies, we believe that new business models will be born and prevail. Taka Yamada Varun Malhotra Satvik B. Disha Soni Rachel Teow

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Congratulations to our True Global Ventures portfolio company Animoca Brands and team (Kenneth Shek Yat Siu Evan Auyang Jared Shaw Minh Do Alan Lau) with their US$23.9 million committed at 12x oversubscription on the MOCA Token Launch! 🌟 The total pre-deposited funds of US$29.3m was conducted on MocaList, a new co-branded token launchpad jointly launched by Mocaverse and CoinList. Access to the offering was gated by Moca ID, the MOCA Token Launch was the top-funded sale on CoinList so far in 2024, with participation by nearly 17,000 unique KYC-ed users from 123 different countries and record participation from the Mocaverse community. The MOCA Foundation serves as the platform to build the largest interoperable cultural economy in the Web3 space powered by the MOCA Token, and support the growth of Moca DAO, where members will take the lead in co-creating Migration Infrastructure Providers (MIPs) and engaging in cross-DAO empowerment through unique delegation models. I see KYC-Identity interoperability across Web3 applications accelerating ease of mass market adoption such that when you onboard onto one MOCA Ecosystem Web3 application you easily onboard onto all at the same time! https://lnkd.in/d6XTA-5D

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Join Titanium Ventures for a SXSW Mixer with our friends at TEN13 + OIF Ventures 16 Oct 6-9pm, The Strawberry in Surry Hills Be part of the SXSW Sydney Festival Buzz with us at The Strawberry in Surry Hills from 6pm on Wednesday 16 October where we will bring together over 200 of the best founders, operators and investors. ​​TEN13, OIF Ventures and Titanium Ventures are joining forces for an evening of all-inclusive longevity food, drinks and access to the greatest minds in the startup ecosystem. Secure your tickets now! https://lu.ma/5rwlocuv ​Titanium Ventures (fka Telstra Ventures) is an independent venture capital firm that fuels the growth of high-potential technology startups. Our investments include category-makers and market leaders like DocuSign, Box, CrowdStrike, BigCommerce, Snap and GitLab. ​TEN13 is the network-driven VC, with a global network of 500+ world-class investors, operators, and innovators. With TEN13, you build your own portfolio and stay in control of investment decisions. We provide access to the best category-defining venture opportunities, vetted and curated by our expert deal team. We make investments of $300k to $2m in Pre-seed to Series A and beyond with a focus on technology that will define the future. Since 2019, we've deployed over $100 million to fuel some of the world’s most ambitious founders from companies such as me&u, go1 and Chipper. ​OIF Ventures is an Australian venture capital firm, championing exceptional founders to build the iconic technology businesses of the future. Founded by some of Australia’s leading entrepreneurs, business builders and investors with significant investment, operational and strategic experience, OIF Ventures always seek to add material value to the founders and teams they partner with. OIF Ventures have backed some of Australia’s most iconic technology companies including Go1, Instaclustr, Assignar, Enboarder, Kasada, Clear Dynamics and more.

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June 16 2024 – 5 Notable Articles To Read Article: OpenAI’s Japanese Rival Gets $1B Valuation From Silicon Valley Investors Takeaway: New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Lux Capital, and Khosla Ventures are jointly spearheading a new funding round for Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based developer of large-language models. Established last year by former members of Google's DeepMind, Sakana aims to secure approximately $100M in this latest round of financing. Source: The Information Link: https://lnkd.in/dg7ZnFrJ Article: Pharma Investing Is All About Service Now. The Patent Cliff Era Is Ending. Takeaway: Advanced therapies and personalized medicines are rapidly emerging at the forefront of healthcare. Also referred to as precision medicine, this field enables healthcare providers to prescribe specific treatments tailored to each patient based on their unique genetic makeup and other factors. Source: Barron's Link: https://lnkd.in/d7j5Z9dQ Article: Pakistan rice exports hit record following Indian sales ban Takeaway: Pakistan is exporting record amounts of rice to global markets, capitalizing on trade restrictions implemented by India last year. Rice exports surged to $3.6B over the period, compared to $2B from July to May 2022-23. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/dGGyJGzx Article: Saudi regulator proposes new funds rules on debt Takeaway: The draft aims to enable public fund managers to invest in a broader array of debt instrument issuers by lifting certain restrictions imposed by current regulations. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/dru_7bnM Article: Edmond de Rothschild launches Saudi infra debt fund Takeaway: Rothschild has partnered with SNB Capital, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's largest investment bank, to establish an infrastructure debt fund platform. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/dR6Zi5kw #news #business #research

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In this intimate fireside chat, we will learn more about the Public Investment Corporation Early Stage Fund, cleverly structured to adress a number of challenges faced by startups. Cant wait!

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Summary: Altos Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has secured $500 million for its latest fund, the largest in the firm's almost three-decade history. The firm specializes in enterprise and consumer software sectors, with a focus on SaaS, consumer, and mobile startups. Key takeaways: Altos Ventures has secured $500 million for its latest fund, signaling that established firms are still able to raise substantial capital despite market cooling. The firm takes a restrained approach to fundraising, consistently capping funds below $1 billion every few years, which has proven effective in yielding higher returns. Altos Ventures has a successful track record, claiming to be the first and lead investor in over 50 companies, with over a dozen portfolio companies going public or being acquired. Counter arguments: Emerging fund managers may face challenges in fundraising, and later-stage startups may struggle to raise growth rounds. Valuations in the venture market, especially outside the AI sector, are softer overall, making it more difficult to find desirable investment opportunities. #venturecapital #vc #venture #startups

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Congratulations to Sean (Xiang) Ren, Tyler Z. and Sahara AI team for a successful Series A fundraising. SCB 10X is excited to participate in this strategic funding round, co-led by Pantera Capital and Polychain Capital, along with Samsung Next, Matrix Partners, Nomad Capital, Tangent Ventures and others. Founded in 2023, Sahara AI is developing a decentralized AI platform that offers high performance, provenance, data privacy and security. The network allows both individuals and businesses to deploy proprietary data and build personalized AI models. Additionally, it leverages blockchain technology to enable incentive distribution to data and model contributors, creating a collaborative ecosystem for AI development. SCB 10X is looking forward to working with Sahara AI team for a future of open and inclusive AI. https://lnkd.in/g5jqCm7p #artificialintelligence #generativeai #ai #startups #vc

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I just returned from a dinner with many founders in Singapore, and everyone asked me what they should do, as most VCs in this region seem to be hibernating. Our Partner, Jamie Lin, shared his view on DSA just at the right time. (Can DM me if you wanna read the article.) Yes, it is very tough now. Don't lose hope. We've seen many founders in our community who successfully shifted their company towards healthy growth (= maintaining both top and bottom line) and still luckily moved on to the next fundraising. Yes, all returned to the business fundamental: Build a strong PMF and pave it with a strong moat. Survive, survive, survive. Make your customer pay, be creative with capital. Until you find an investor with the same conviction. (I told my founder husband every day.) It's not impossible. But it's not easy. And we at AppWorks are always very proud of all founders who are still fighting! 💪

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Check out our Mangusta Capital Vertical AI breakdown below!

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To be eligible, the startup must be set up under Thai laws, with at least 51% shares held by Thai nationals, and the founder(s) must hold at least 60% of shares. The startup must also have received at least 15 million baht from the venture capital fund that is listed with the National Innovation Agency. #thailand #startup

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📢 Big News for Proptech in Japan! 🚀 Japanese proptech startup estie, inc. has just closed a JPY 2.8 billion (US$20 million) Series B round led by Vertex Growth and Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ), with participation from existing investors like Globis Capital Partners, UTEC - The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, and Global Brain Corporation. 💼🏢 With this fresh funding, estie is set to: 🔹 Accelerate its multi-product strategy  🔹 Drive strategic M&A activity 🔹 Recruit top talent to scale up 🔹 Expand its presence into Southeast Asia, with Singapore as the first stop! Japan, home to the world’s third-largest commercial real estate market, presents a massive opportunity for digital transformation, particularly in improving data availability and transparency in the industry. estie is leading this charge, tackling data distribution challenges and bringing interoperable real estate services to the market. As Tam Hock Chuan, General Partner at Vertex Growth, said: “What Bloomberg has achieved for the financial industry, we believe estie is doing for the Japanese real estate sector.” With estie’s proven growth in Japan, there's excitement about how this innovative business model will thrive across Southeast Asia! 🌏 #Proptech #RealEstate #Japan #SeriesB #InvestmentNews #SoutheastAsia #StartupGrowth #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #SaaS #Singapore

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Revealing the first guest for next week on Business Podcast by Roohi I will be chatting with Wei Yong of XVC Some context: - XVC is Headquartered in Beijing, China - XVC is a 1.2 Billion research driven venture growth fund Feel free to drop down any questions you have for Wei below Thanks to Sion Evans of VenCap for making the intro, and this episode happen!

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