MSW Ventures

Francis Simisim is a founder, investor, and mentor in the Asian tech startup ecosystem who has built and exited startups including WhenInManila.com, Blogapalooza, and Social Light. He served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at 917Ventures, where he built companies across multiple verticals, and led Favcy Venture Builders in India. He has angel invested in several startups, founded Original Pitch Venture Capital for early-stage investments, and acted as a venture partner sourcing deals in the Philippines.

Jake Tan is an operator and entrepreneur who founded the D2C brand Ergotune, which he bootstrapped from zero to about $20 million in annual revenue over four years before an 8-figure exit. He is now an angel investor active in the Southeast Asia and Hong Kong ecosystems and runs several other cashflow-generating businesses. As an industry partner he focuses on operations, advising founders on capital-efficient growth.

Leanne Robers is an entrepreneur, startup advisor and community builder, and co-founder of She Loves Tech, a startup competition and accelerator focused on women-led and women-impact tech startups operating across 72 countries. Trained in psychology, she focuses on helping leaders build resilience and adaptability using techniques from neuroscience and psychology. She has founded several businesses, including Comish (an art and technology platform), a New York fintech service platform, and a lifestyle company operating boutique hotels and F&B outlets in Southeast Asia.

Nathanael Lim is co-founder and chief strategy officer of Avium, a venture-backed company built on AI technology, and a partner at Paladyn Group, which angel invests in and advises startups on corporate governance, structuring, and market entry into Asia. He was previously a partner at an international law firm, specializing in mergers, acquisitions, and fundraising for technology companies, venture funds, and startups, including digital asset token raises. His areas of expertise include blockchain, fintech, and web3, and he speaks on these topics at industry conferences.

Tang Seok Hian is founder and director of IKIGAI Consultancy Services and co-developer of the Neuro-Linguistic Enneagram Profiler at Mind Transformations. With over 25 years of HR and leadership experience across generalist, business partner, regional, coaching, and consulting roles, she advises co-founders, business owners, and senior executives on leadership development, organizational structure, talent management, succession planning, and culture enhancement. Her current work focuses on helping startups establish leadership infrastructure and people systems to support business scaling.

Xelia Tong has worked across Malaysia's public and private funding sectors, beginning at a Ministry of Finance-owned entity that funded technology projects and later managing a USD 50m creative content fund at a government-linked company. She served as VP of Investment at Cradle Fund, an early-stage technology funding agency, where she supported the funding of 185 entrepreneurs and implemented a tax incentive program for early-stage private investment. She is currently Managing Partner at ScaleUp Malaysia, a hybrid accelerator and venture capital entity, overseeing investor relations and partnerships.

Desmond Lee is an entrepreneur in the wholesale industry who has built and sold four companies. He currently works as Vendor Relationship Manager at IPC Asia Pacific and serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, where he earned a Diploma in Business Studies. His investment interests focus on technology-driven ventures in agritech, food, and hospitality.

Kevin Tan has over 30 years of experience across digital technology, data, and media, focusing on identifying early-stage ideas and supporting founders as they build companies. He co-founded and served as CEO of Eyeota, an audience technology platform acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 2021, and previously held roles at Viacom, Comscore, and Kantar/TNS China, was head of international at Adify (acquired by Cox), and co-founded iamasia. He is a Duke University graduate and currently serves as Executive in Residence at Progress Partners and Limited Partner at FirstParty Capital and C2Ventures.

Alvin Poh is an entrepreneur who founded the Singapore web hosting company Vodien at age 17, growing it to 35,000 clients and a team of 150 before selling it for $30 million at age 33. He now coaches entrepreneurs on scaling their businesses through SuperScaling.com and operates a cloud hosting company, CLDY.com. He serves as an Investment Committee Advisor at MSW Ventures.

Nicholas Khoo has over twenty years of experience as a co-founder, board member, and committee member across businesses, non-profits, investment funds, and government. He currently serves as COO of NASDAQ-listed Global Star Acquisition Inc and has sat on the investment committees of venture capital and private equity funds. Previously he led teams across Asia Pacific and Japan for Visa, working with banks, airlines, and large internet companies on digital transaction risk, and he lectures at the University of Stirling.

Ricky Ow is a partner with venture capital firms and founder of RJ Int'l, an investment and advisory company working with web3.0 and traditional businesses across Thailand, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. He is President of Kasagi Labo, a subsidiary of Liquid X focused on anime IP, and previously spent time as Asia Pacific President for WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks (formerly Turner International) from 2013 to 2020 and 14 years at Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia. Earlier roles include positions at SBC Enterprises, Asia Business News, and CNBC, and he studied at the National University of Singapore.

Yanisa Suratpipit is a Senior Associate at MSW Ventures, where she supports Asia Fund X in sourcing startups and advising portfolio founders. She previously worked as a Venture Investor at Plug and Play Tech Center, closing early-stage deals in enterprise, construction, and supply chain tech, and earlier held a corporate finance role involving M&A and IPO work. She holds a BBA (Hons with Distinction) in finance from the National University of Singapore.