Our Team
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Hemant BHATT - Chairman
Hemant brings decades of experience managing public listed companies. He is currently Special Advisor for Downstream for Golden Agri-Resources, one of the world’s largest seed-to-shelf agribusinesses.
Hemant also served the full term limit of 9 years on the Disciplinary Committee of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Hemant chairs TRIVE’s Investment Committee and advises on management challenges for both TRIVE as well as our portfolio companies.
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Christopher QUEK, CAIA, CFA - Managing Partner
Christopher, Founder and Managing Partner of TRIVE, is a third-generation family business owner and is a seasoned entrepreneur with expertise spanning multiple industries including manufacturing, deep technology, education, and food and beverage.
Christopher's extensive mentoring experience includes guiding over 1,200 startup founders since 2011 and advising 800 startups in Southeast Asia, facilitating the raising of a combined US$28m for early-stage companies in 2020. He is both a CFA and CAIA charterholder and is an active member of Innovatifplus, an association of next-generation business owners. Christopher regularly shares insights on family generational wealth on elevate.trive.vc.
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LECK Ting Yan - Managing Partner
Ting Yan is Managing Partner at TRIVE. He spends a dedicated bulk of his time working closely with our founders to structure their businesses for growth.
Prior to TRIVE, TIng Yan started his career as an early employee at a startup and then really getting to understand early stage startups in an incubator setting. Ting Yan read Double Degree in Finance and Economics at the Singapore Management University as a scholar under the Lee Kong Chian Scholars Program.
Besides managing the scaling of startups, Ting Yan spends his free time with his family and attempts to keep fit by practising Karate and Muay Thai.
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Daryl LIM - General Partner
Daryl is General Partner of TRIVE VC, managing our Web3, Fintech, AR/VR investments. He is also Managing Partner of TRIVE Advisory. He is a seasoned innovation strategist driving strategic growth and ventures since 2015.
Daryl's journey includes pivotal roles such as COO of MetaPals, where he introduced users to Web3 via virtual pets in the metaverse, and leading innovation and partnerships at Padang & Co. His expertise also extends to spearheading sales and partnerships at Botbot.ai, ensuring robust collaboration with global corporations.
Daryl holds a Masters in Technopreneurship and Innovation from Nanyang Technological University. Beyond his professional endeavors, he enjoys tinkering with projects, participating in hackathons, and mentoring young entrepreneurs.
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Shawn TAN - General Partner
Shawn is a General Partner of TRIVE VC, managing our Web3, Fintech, AR/VR investments. Shawn is an entrepreneur turned investor and advisor, boasts over a decade of experience in venture investment, zero-to-one management, and operations.
As a Partner at R3D3 Ventures, he specializes in early-stage investments in FinTech, blockchain/Web3.0, and AI worldwide. With a strong belief in business-driven blockchain applications, Shawn co-founded Motra and Menso, now Brand Governance Network, a blockchain-powered platform for cross-border franchise expansion. He also served as an economic consultant and policymaker at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Additionally, he's recognized as a Global Expert by Blockchain Founders Fund.
Shawn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons. in Finance) from the National University of Singapore and is pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at INSEAD as a dual-scholarship recipient.
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Zad NGOR - General Partner
Zad is General Partner at TRIVE, specializes in investments across Malaysia and Indonesia.
An accomplished entrepreneur, he co-founded Championfy, a successful esports mobile gaming platform with a user base of over 200K. Championfy was later acquired by Ampverse in 2023.
Zad began his career as an associate at Antler VC, providing support to founders and partners in the Singapore accelerator program. He later became a venture lead at NetVentures, where he nurtured new businesses, managed portfolios, and built investor relationships.
Outside of work, Zad enjoys gaming, brainstorming business ideas, and staying active at the gym.
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Dr. Melissa FOO - Venture Partner
Dr. Foo supports TRIVE’s activities in Malaysia and in Healthcare. She is a global investor and portfolio manager with expertise in impact investment, ecosystem development, and innovation. She has worked on multiple early-stage deals in various sectors, including healthcare, education, FinTech, B2B, real estate technology, and social enterprise. She also provides consultancy services for the Malaysian government and is a mentor and speaker at Lean Startup Asia and Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) Academy.
Dr. Foo holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she specialized in Family Enterprise Management and Impact Investing. Additionally, she serves on the board of her family's healthcare company based in Malaysia.
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Derrick TEO - Venture Partner
Derrick co-founded Elitez Group, a full suite HR solutions provider operating in 6 countries across Asia that employs more than 200 corporate staff with annual revenue exceeding USD$40 million. In 2013, Elitez was a proud recipient of TRIVE angel investment which greatly fuelled the group’s ascend.
He has been contributing to various societies and organisations since he was a student. From his 20-year ongoing grassroots leadership to his 30th blood donation, the season entrepreneur is passionate about living a significant and meaningful life. An awardee of the IDA public scholarship, Derrick declined the coveted scholarship in lieu of a life of entrepreneurship. Today, he has acquired more than 18 years of entrepreneurial experience under his belt across multiple industries. He looks forward to advising fellow entrepreneurs to deliver the similar community uplift that he had created throughout his career.
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Joshua CHIA - Fundraise Associate
Joshua started his career in Malaysia's asset management industry. His drive for growth led him to spearhead Private Equity fund launches, adeptly attracting investors to promising ventures over nearly five years. In the process, he's honed his skills in cultivating relationships with sophisticated investors and guiding them through complex investment landscapes.
At TRIVE, Joshua is keen to leverage his extensive expertise to further the firm's venture capital initiatives, aiming for collective success and enduring partnerships within the financial services domain.
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TEO Shu Qi - VC Analyst
Shu Qi is an ACA Chartered Accountant with experience in the financial services industry like Investment banking, M&A, and forecasting & planning. She is an ICAEW qualifier, obtaining her certification after 3 years of working experiences.
On the side of this, Shu Qi is an entrepreneur who started a business since 2019. Having gained on-hand experience on entrepreneurship, she understands the difficulty, challenges and thrill that comes from building something for scratch. For this, Shu Qi wants to combine her finance expertise together with this believe to work in looking for and supporting new startups. On her off days, you will find Shu Qi travelling, working out or cooking.
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HIEW Tzy Hwan - Analyst
Tzy Hwan embarked on his journey with TRIVE in early 2024, where he has actively contributed to supporting the Advisory team in various capacities such as research, deal origination, drafting investment memos, deal structuring, and ecosystem engagement.
Before joining TRIVE, Tzy Hwan held diverse roles and engaged in multiple projects within the Venture Capital, Private Equity, Startup, and Investment Banking Advisory domains while pursuing his studies. The culmination of these experiences has equipped him with valuable insights and lessons to navigate the deal-making environment and venture ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region.
Tzy Hwan holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, and Management from the University of Nottingham. Outside of work, Tzy Hwan dedicates his free time to policy research for the Petaling Jaya constituency, indulging in the arts, and enjoying a game of football.
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Melissa KHO - Compliance and Fund Admin Manager
Melissa graduated as an accountant and has worked more than 10 years in auditing and financial accounting.
Prior to TRIVE, Melissa was the senior member of the regional internal audit team of a multinational corporation with manufacturing plants and trading companies in the ASEAN regional countries including subsidiaries in Shanghai and Taipei. She acquired her practice and experience in regional internal audit and corporate compliance, and gained much insight into regional business culture, management and good governance, which are the critical success factors to corporate success.
The pet challenges for Melissa are to work closely with management and improve operational efficiency through digitalization, to utilize new technologies, like Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing, to influence and transform business processes in the workplace.
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NUR Eliyana - Finance and Admin
Eliyana (Elly) is the admin and finance manager at TRIVE.
Elly possesses a number of years of experience handling back-end operations. Elly manages everything behind-the-scenes from the finances, HR, accounts, audit, administration and processing of the investment funds.
Elly graduated from BMC International College with a diploma in Business Administration.
Our Values
Our values direct how we act, whether alone or when engaging with other people.
This is how we remind ourselves to do right by our founders, investors and partners.
This is what we look to when growing the team.
TRUST
Build trust with our investors and founders through our every action
Trust in the team to make good on their word
Keep trust and make good on your word.
RESPECT
Respect the work done by startup Founders and their teams
Respect their vision
INNOVATE
Always question assumptions. Test new ideas without fear of reprisal or failure
VALIDATE
Check and ensure authenticity of claims made
Recognise and affirm the work of our team and founders.
ENJOY
Enjoy the little things
Celebrate the wins
Share the fruits of our labour
Our Journey
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To build the next generation of entrepreneurs, Christopher led the formation of the incubator, Angels Gate Advisory, and subsequently TRIVE Labs.
76 startups were incubated, deploying USD2.3 million in grants, supporting the raising of USD9m in pre-seed and angel rounds, and 2 exits.
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Micro-fund backed by Far East Ventures investing into early stage pre-seed startups to build the next generation of entrepreneurs
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Micro-fund investing into seed stage Programming Schools to develop tech talent in the region
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First Singapore Government backed Global Blockchain Consortium Accelerator to advance smarter cities through blockchain
Spun out in 2019
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Capturing opportunities as they come along while continuing to support exisiting portfolio companies to grow to the next stage
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Mission to directly impact 100 million people over 20 years by investing in founders creating scalable solutions