About

Mr James Tan

James Tan is Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, a leading venture fund for technology companies that have scalability and replicability in large internet communities. Prior to this, James was co-founder and COO of 55tuan, a NASDAQ listed e-commerce group that grew to more than 200 cities and 5,000 employees across China.

As the first Singaporean and one of the rarefied few foreigners to found a public listed internet company in China, and for his investments in the next generation of entrepreneurs, James was recognised as an outstanding overseas Chinese by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council of China. For his outstanding global contributions, James received the Alumni Award from the University of South Australia.

James currently serves as advisor, board member or trustee on the Applied Innovation Institute, Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia, Beijing CYL Joint Committee on Entrepreneurship Development, National Research Foundation CGAP Fund, Social Impact Catalyst, Sports Excellence Business, and Vietnam Angel Network.

Mr Saurav
Bhattacharyya

Saurav Bhattacharyya (“Shau-Rav”) is the CEO and a Co-founder of Quantum Inventions, a company focussing in Mobility Intelligence.  He raised over S$5m in funding for QI before it was wholly acquired in 2017 by Continental Corporation – an automotive supplier, with over S$64B (40B Euros) in global sales.  At the point of acquisition, QI had subsidiaries in Malaysia, Indonesia, and operations in India.

QI has grown to be a formidable company in ITS solutions, dynamic traffic information services and connected navigation and covets the Young Innovator Award under the Land Transport Excellence Awards, which it won in 2010 (by the Ministry of Transport of Singapore).  Close to his industry, he has served ITS Singapore in various capacities, currently, as President.

Dr Alex Lin

Alex is currently the Deputy CEO of NTUitive, which is the technology and commercialization unit of the globally 11th rank Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He continues building ecosystems in the region and creating vibrant startup hubs for more tech adoption and economic progress. These knowledges are also formalized into the NTUit executive development curriculum.

Alex cofounded ICOra Asia, which advises companies on structuring their fundraising strategies via blockchain crowdfunding. Alex also advice regulators in the region with regards to Fintech, blockchain, and innovation ecosystems that enable startups, SMEs, and listed companies to raise project funding via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

When not busy with startups and new venture creation, Alex supports his multiple family office with investment portfolio ranging from brick and mortar (e.g. logistics) to tech (e.g. web services) companies.

Mr Clarence Ti

Clarence was appointed as the Principal of Ngee Ann Polytechnic in May 2014. The polytechnic has an enrolment of over 13,500 students and has over 1,700 staff. In this role, he leads the polytechnic in developing future ready graduates and has been promoting entrepreneurship, service-learning and overseas internships.    

 Prior to his appointment in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Clarence served in various roles across a number of government agencies in areas of investment promotion, business & operations management, planning & co-ordination, and legislative & policy reviews. These agencies include the Singapore Economic Development Board, where he served in various capacities including as Head of Strategic Planning and Director of the San Francisco Centre, the Singapore Land Authority where he was Director of Land Business Management, the Ministry of Law where he was Director for Strategic Planning and the Ministry of Finance, where he served as Chief Executive of its Shared Services department, Vital. 

Ms Lim Qing Ru

Qing Ru cofounded Zopim, a live chat software, which was sold to Zendesk (NYSE:ZEN) in 2014 when she was 28 years old. Since then, she has been an active angel investor, with close to 20 companies in her personal portfolio. Currently, she’s a Partner at True Global Ventures 4th Fund which invest exclusively in blockchain startups. She was the commencement speaker for NUS FASS in 2015.

Qing Ru has been a board of advisor for NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Science since 2017. She is also an executive committee member with LadiesFirst, an organisation that does charity for the underprivileged in Singapore.

Dr. Mark Hon

Dr Mark Hon is a serial entrepreneur and accredited private investor with experience in leading early stage companies from ideation to IPO. He is founder of Sugar Ventures in Singapore and venture partner at Garage Technology Ventures in the United States. A former professor of finance in Madrid, he was also visiting professor to universities in Oxford, United Kingdom and Deggendorf, Germany. In the private sector, he has formulated R&D commercialisation strategies for The Boeing Company and consumer electronics procurement road maps and mobile application strategies for France Telecom. Featured in Whos Who in the World, and Whos Who in America, he was also the past chairman of the Business Angel Network South East Asia (BANSEA) and serves on the evaluation panels of public sector funds that support entrepreneurship.