Orbit Startups

Venture Partner at SOSV.

Notable mentor; co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes.

Managing General Partner of Orbit Ventures, focused on investing in technology founders across emerging markets and the GCC region.

Notable mentor; Chief Growth Scientist and co-founder of Growth OS.

Notable mentor; founding partner and Chief Creation Officer at The Octalysis Group.

Ching-Ping Lin is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Orbit. She previously held roles at Dragon Aviation Leasing (a joint venture between China Aviation Supplies and Aercap), Amazon.com, and McKesson, and worked at startups including Planetall.com, HPR Inc., and Freemark Communications. Trained as a health informaticist and qualitative researcher, she has built digital health systems for under-resourced populations in Uganda, China, and the United States. She holds a BA in computer science and classics from Bowdoin College, a Ph.D. in biomedical informatics from the University of Washington School of Medicine, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in global health at Peking University.

Jenne Wong is Partner and Director of Business Development at Orbit Ventures. Her experience spans the mobile and software industry, including strategy, project management, portfolio management, corporate engagements, and business scaling. She works with early-stage startups on cross-border expansion and international business development across regions.

Minjia Wu is a Partner at Orbit Ventures, a venture fund investing in emerging markets. She was previously a Partner at SOSV, where she managed a portfolio of more than 30 companies and deployed US$16.5M, with portfolio companies raising over US$102M in follow-on funding. Her investing covers the US, Southeast Asia, and India, with a focus on media and logistics.

TR Harrington is a Partner at Orbit Ventures with prior venture capital experience at SOSV and Antler, working across markets including Silicon Valley, China, Asia, MENA, and Los Angeles. Over more than 25 years, Harrington has worked in sales, marketing, technology, and product, supporting over 250 startups and brands such as Sephora, Gucci, Apple, Cisco, and Booking.com on product and market entry, growth marketing, and performance marketing. Harrington co-founded a search marketing business in China that was a Baidu beta technology API partner.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; CTO at RIKAI Labs.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; CEO at Jaunt China.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; serves as Executive Director & CFO at Times Internet Limited.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; CEO at Silk Road Telecommunication.

Expert in Residence focused on financial modeling.

Venture Partner at Orbit; associated with Ostinato Capital LLC.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; Chief Strategy Officer at DDB Chicago.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; CEO and leadership team coach.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; CEO at Pullpath.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; SVP of New Digital Business and Innovation at Universal Music Group.

Venture Partner / Expert in Residence; Chair at Tiger 21.

Abdul Rasheed Mohammed has spent roughly two years working across software development for gaming, business development, fundraising, and community building in the tech and startup space. He states a preference for early-stage, fast-paced environments.

Aditya Kathpalia is Director, India & MENA at Orbit Startups, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in companies across emerging and frontier markets. He previously served as an Innovation Consultant for the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority's Anjal Z program and as Head of Ecosystem & Growth initiatives at Chiratae Ventures. He holds a degree in computer science engineering and has worked with companies including Shell, Reliance Jio, Google, and Amazon AWS on startup-related initiatives across sectors such as energy, fintech, enterprise SaaS, and health tech.

Alok Somani is the CFO of Orbit, with over 25 years of finance experience across Fortune 25 companies and smaller businesses. Before joining Orbit, he worked as an independent consultant offering CFO advisory services to growth-stage small businesses, and previously held leadership roles at PopCap Asia, Hess Corporation, and BP. He focuses on strategic planning, corporate finance, operational finance, treasury operations, investment advisory, and M&A, and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Amani Alshaikhmubarak leads Saudi ecosystem engagement and strategic partnerships at Orbit, overseeing the Saudi program and Riyadh office. Before Orbit, she was a Business Advisor for SME Growth Programs at Monsha'at, and earlier held senior roles at Honeywell as Localization and Government Relations Director for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and at Saipem as Localization Transformation Manager, with prior experience at ELM and Saudi Aramco. She holds a Master of Education from the University of Akron and a Master of Entrepreneurship from the University of Washington.

Ander Gonzalez is Chief of Staff at Orbit Ventures, joining in January 2025 to support the firm's international expansion and work with the General Partner on partnerships and operations across emerging markets. He has worked in the entrepreneurship ecosystem since 2018 through the Mondragon Team Academy network and the LEINN degree, and previously served as International Trade Manager at the Economic and Commercial Office of Spain in Shanghai and as a consultant with the European Union Trust Fund for Colombia. He has also pursued entrepreneurial ventures in Spain and South Korea.

Carrie Chang is Finance Manager at Orbit Ventures. She holds a bachelor's degree from Chihlee University of Technology and has 15 years of experience in accounting and finance. Her prior employers include Electrolux, Honeywell, and McKinsey.

Chenchen Liu serves as Assistant General Counsel at Orbit Ventures, where she handles legal matters mainly for the Orbit Cross Border Program. She previously worked as an associate at a Chinese law firm in Shanghai, focusing on private investment and venture capital transactions along with corporate legal affairs. She earned a JD from the University of Sydney and an LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center.

Daniel Osorio Peña is the Founding GTM Lead at Fronte, an early-stage fintech platform focused on helping households coordinate cross-border financial obligations. His background spans investment banking, private equity, startup growth, and venture capital in Latin America, including leading a BNPL launch at a Y Combinator-backed startup that reached $128K in monthly GMV. He was the first on-the-ground hire for a $60M emerging-markets venture capital fund, where he supported more than 10 portfolio companies on fundraising and growth.

Daphne Liu is HR & Operations Manager at Orbit Ventures. She was raised in South Africa, moved to China, studied in the USA, and now lives in Taiwan. Before Orbit, she was an executive assistant to the CEO of a locally listed financial group, and prior to that spent over six years as a real estate consultant at a Fortune 500 company.

Elbern Pabiran holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Financial Management and has worked with Orbit Ventures since 2022. As Canva and Design Queue Manager, he oversees visual content production for the communications team and ensures creative requests are delivered on schedule. He also assists with backend website maintenance, making minor edits and updates to keep pages accurate.

Emil Jersling is a Senior Growth Manager at Orbit Ventures, where he helps CEOs accelerate growth through data-driven decision-making. Trained as an engineer and holding an MBA, he draws on two decades of venture-building experience across Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Since 2005 he has founded eight companies across five countries and exited two, including launching Groupon Belgium in 2011, a vibration-energy-harvesting deep-tech venture in China in 2018, and an organic flow battery company in 2025.

Francesca Tang works in business development with experience in hardware, IoT manufacturing, and startup investment due diligence. She spent over five years as a Business Development manager at Foxconn Group, and previously served as Quotation Manager at NXP and as a Project Manager for a conference organizer. She was based in the Bay Area for over four years, providing manufacturing, design engineering support, and investment partnerships for hardware startups in the smart home and IoT space, and holds a bachelor's degree in Recreational Sport Management with a double major in Business Administration from National Taipei University.

Hebatalla Gad is an Investment Analyst at Orbit Ventures. She holds a Master's degree in Technology Management from NYU, and her prior professional background includes customer success and engineering management, as well as project controls, automation, system administration, and operations. In her current role she works with entrepreneurs to conduct assessments and valuations.

Hiruy Ephrem is a Senior Associate at Orbit Ventures, where he works on portfolio management and deal sourcing. He previously served as Program Manager for Angelvest Group, an angel investor network based in Asia, in Shanghai, and completed internships at Coca-Cola Sabco in Addis Ababa and Beijing Niu Technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics and Economics with a Mandarin Chinese concentration from Middlebury College.

Jae Woong Choi is a Program Analyst at Orbit Ventures, where he supports portfolio founders by coordinating mentor engagement and startup perks, and helps run pre-accelerator programs across Orbit and government-backed initiatives. Before Orbit, he worked in corporate sales, closing deals through demonstrations and consultations with major clients. He also previously served at the Korean Embassy in Myanmar in a marketing and community engagement role.

Jean-David (JD) Zhu is an Investment Analyst at Orbit Ventures. He previously worked as an investment manager at New Access Capital, an onshore RMB VC fund, where he handled deal sourcing, investing, and fundraising with a focus on software, hardware, web3, and new consumer sectors. Earlier in his career he worked in asset management consulting and investment banking, and he holds an MSc from the University of London.

Jojo Pan is a Senior Investment Analyst at Orbit with a background in finance across the private and public sectors. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in business administration and a concentration in finance, and during her senior year worked in the finance department of a government agency focused on debt investment for housing and commercial developments. Before joining Orbit, she worked in the consumer industry conducting early-stage merchandise analysis, scouting brands for investment, and advising startups on market-expansion strategies.

Kelly Pang is a Senior Program Manager at Orbit Startups, a venture capital firm within SOSV that supports early-stage companies across emerging and frontier markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. She previously worked in full stack development, healthcare, digital marketing, and the legal industry.

Liz Lee joined Orbit Ventures as Communication Manager in 2021, working on marketing, PR, and government relations for tech and NGO projects. She previously led marketing and PR for Slush China and HICOOL, designing and launching startup-focused events. Earlier she studied and worked in Finland and China, holding content, PR, and marketing roles at companies including TCL, BIOSK (HK), and HOME CREDIT across fintech, environmental sustainability, and NGO work.

Maggie Ye is an HR and operations manager at Orbit Ventures, where she handles the office's daily operations and supports portfolio companies with recruiting talent. She holds a degree in logistics management from Shanghai University and earned an HRP certificate during earlier work in the internet advertising exhibition industry.

Nick Ponomarev is a Senior Investment Analyst at Orbit Startups managing a portfolio exceeding $300 million across 22 companies in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. He has supported fundraising alongside major institutional investors including Alibaba and Morgan Stanley, and previously led investment activities for PIF Sanabil's 0-1 program. His background encompasses physics and engineering education in Russia and Shanghai, along with mentoring roles at Huawei, Duke, and NYU, and participation in the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers initiative.

Salman Saleem is a Growth Manager at Orbit Ventures, where he supports a portfolio of over 40 startups across emerging and frontier markets. He has more than eight years of experience in startup growth, having previously worked within companies in Pakistan, Kenya, MENA, and other emerging markets across sectors including e-commerce, food delivery, cloud kitchens, ride-hailing, mass transit, ed-tech, and B2B marketplaces. His work has spanned growth, product, data analytics, marketing, and business operations functions.

Sam Junkermann is an Investment Specialist at Orbit Ventures. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from IE University in Madrid, with a concentration in economic and financial analysis for business, and works across teams to support operational and strategic initiatives.

Notable mentor; CEO of 5G Catalyst Technologies.

Sherry Jin is the Operations Director and Accountant at Orbit Ventures, which she joined full time in 2014, where she oversees operations and financial matters and advises on Chinese laws and regulations for the firm and its portfolio companies. Before Orbit Ventures, she worked in operations and finance at venture capital funds including Softbank and Singtel Innov8. She holds a Bachelor's in International Trading from Shanghai Dianji University.

Viren Dissanayake is the IT Manager at Orbit Ventures, where he oversees technology operations with an emphasis on scalability, security, and efficiency. He has worked across the manufacturing, mining, and technology sectors, as well as with two startups in transportation and AI. At Orbit, he focuses on IT infrastructure, global device management, and supporting teams across multiple regions.

Wei Pan is a Corporate Innovation Analyst at Orbit Startups with three years of professional experience across multiple industries. Pan's work focuses on qualitative research and analysis, developed in a range of work cultures.