Meet the New Protégé Ventures Team!
In 2017, a group of working professionals came together to set up Southeast Asia’s first student venture fund. Despite the massive influx of capital into the startup ecosystem in Singapore, there was a dearth of systematic training programmes to equip students with venture capital knowledge and skills.
We set out to change that paradigm and Protégé Ventures was born.
Fast forward to 2019, we took over the reins from our founding partners and transitioned into a fully student run venture fund with 4 student partners: Tao Huang, Lionell Loh, Grace Fun and Justin Quek. This was a pivotal year as we developed many initiatives to augment our member’s learning experience. A prime example is Protégé Academy, a 3-month programme that distilled the essentials of being a VC to aspiring students looking to break into the venture scene. We have also placed students in internship and full-time roles at VCs such as Wavemaker Partners, Cento Ventures, MDI Ventures, Qualgro Ventures and many more.
We achieved a 35% increase in applications and recruited 47 students across 6 universities into our academy programme to impart VC knowledge and technical skills required in the industry. Newly onboarded analysts were put to the test by going through a rigorous curriculum, tasked with sourcing and evaluating deals. The intensity of these tasks placed upon them thoroughly polished them and today, we have 24 outstanding associates graduating from the programme.
This year our newly minted partners : Theodora Boo, Jerald Low and Yong Hua Bing will be taking the helm and driving across a few new agendas to propagate Venture Capital among the student ecosystem. A sneak peek into one of our exciting agendas this year would be to thrust Protégé onto the regional stage and expose our members to business models and cultures overseas to prepare them for regional VC roles and improve their employment prospects.
We have also created new internal structures to include partnerships & Marketing Communication, Investment & Deals Management and Research & Education.
Partnerships and Marketing Communication
Our partnerships and marketing communication team seeks to form strategic partnerships and work with key players in the ecosystem to create more value for the startup ecosystem and to bring social media updates about Protégé and happenings within the ecosystem.
Jerald Low
Jerald is a final year student in Nanyang Business School reading Business (Banking & Finance). His vertical of interests include Edutech, Fintech and DeepTech! He has been busy surviving school and interning at Wavemaker Partners. He also occasionally dabbles in netflix and PUBG — actually quite a lot. Oh yes, he also shook hands with PM Modi of India after winning a hackathon in Chennai.
Fun fact: He is an airborne trained commando during national service.
Aloysius Toh
Aloysius is a sophomore at NTU studying mechanical engineering. He joined Protégé Ventures in 2018 following a stint at Vickers Venture Partners, where he gained valuable insights into venture capital. Learning about new technologies that will disrupt the world we live in is what excites him about VC, and he is especially keen on education technology and SaaS. He is also an avid football fan and enjoys a good read, along with a humble cup of kopi peng.
Nicholas Koh
Nicholas is a junior at Yale-NUS studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He has previous experience ranging from VC to consultancy to food research to creative technology. Just like his past experiences, he is sector agnostic and enjoys learning about different verticals. His favourite startup is The Ocean Cleanup by Boyan Slat and he is also looking to launch a startup that will solve climate issues. He is a “swammer”, Wikipedia enthusiast, and basketball card collector.
Jaryl Lim
Jaryl studies systems engineering and technology entrepreneurship in SUTD. Prior to Protégé Ventures, Jaryl worked at Zigway, a financial inclusion startup based in Myanmar. He’s currently running a social enterprise startup, Savour, and is very passionate about ESG investing, verticals of cleantech, retail and e-commerce. He is an avid writer on his personal blog, an aspiring financial planner, a self-proclaimed shopaholic in his free time.
Mike Sun
Mike is currently pursuing computer science and technology entrepreneurship at SUTD.
Alongside Protégé, Mike runs a social enterprise, Savour, that aims to reduce food waste. He links up organisations and suppliers via a e-procurement platform with a strong focus for expiring,blemished and surplus food.He is greatly interested in foodtech, agritech and AI enabled solutions. He one day hopes to be a smart farmer, applying technology to agriculture. Mike is also a passionate street photographer with a love for genuine moments.
Andrew Lee
Andrew is a senior at NUS majoring in finance. Previously, Andrew interned at TRIVE ventures on the Ecosystem and Market Access team where he mentored 8 exceptional start-ups to obtain over $200,000 in grant funding. He is currently interested in blockchain technology and spending his summer at Tribe Accelerator, Singapore’s first government backed blockchain accelerator. In his free time, he enjoys watching football, singing and having a drink with his friends.
Clarence Ong
Clarence is a senior at SMU, pursuing a Bachelor of Business Management with a keen interest in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He is enthusiastic about blockchain, digital currencies, the startup scene and venture-capitalism. Apart from Protégé Ventures, Clarence is also the president of Eagles Inc., SMU’s entrepreneurship club that organises Singapore’s largest business plan competition, the PAK Challenge.
His favourite start-up story is one of struggle, opportunities, funny cereal boxes and a little bit of luck, which is AirBnb’s.
Arcadia Ang
Arcadia just graduated from SMU, having finished her BBM with Strategy and Psychology as her majors. She runs her own fashion and media business, Pyzis Co, which has been her devotion since her high school days.
She is interested in retail platforms, media startups, property and medical technologies, and enjoys finding ways to fix the little inconveniences in society.
To maintain a work-life balance, Arcadia is famous for making a run to another country whenever she has a few free days in a row to tick off her scenery bucket list, or to chase down the best gin tonic/wine in the world.
Ernest Teh
Ernest just graduated from NUS Sociology. He always imagined going down a people oriented role, such as counselling people, but his life changed when he embarked on the NOC program in New York.
Since then, Ernest is currently doing what he does best at a fintech startup — selling dreams to people. He is also fascinated by startups that were valued at insane amounts such as Fyre, Theranos and Wework. In his free time, Ernest can be found on a rock wall.
One day, he hopes to create the Facebook of rock climbing.
Ong Yao De
Yao De is a sophomore at Singapore University of Technology and Design studying business analytics.
Apart from academics, Yao De claims to be good at beer pong and hopes to play with someone of his caliber soon.
His vertical of interest is in B2B SAAS startups.
Mohammed Nadirsha
Nadirsha’s background is an Msc Aerospace Engineering (NTU Singapore — TUM Germany) and a B.Eng Aerospace Engineering from National Aerospace University, Ukraine.
He currently works at Saab-NTU Joint lab as Research Engineer focusing on Artificial Intelligence supported Spatial Augmented Reality project for Air Traffic Control.
He started his first startup in India after coming back from Ukraine as topper of his University while doing his Bachelor of engineering in Aerospace. He has done projects in India,Singapore,Oman and UAE so far and did non-profit projects for Indian, African and Rohingya students.
He is currently building a Innovation lab for prototyping and design thinking for students in UAE with his own startup.
His interests are Aerospace, AI, Machine Learning, Startups, and Augmented Reality.
Marcus Chan
Marcus is a penultimate student at SMU studying operations management. Having found his passion for FinTech at Razer, Marcus worked under the RazerPay department that sought to be the next South-East Asia’s eWallet for gamers. He was tasked to seek out ways for RazerPay to establish an edge in an already saturated market, involving heavy research and strategic planning. He is also a devoted funkstyle dancer and a trader in his free time.
Mark Lee
Mark Lee is a recent graduate of NUS Engineering and would soon begin his career as a consultant. Prior to joining Protégé Ventures, Mark has been actively involved with the Entrepreneurship scene; he was part of the pioneer batch of students to attend NOC SEA (Indonesia), working at a Fintech startup and he also took up a second major in Innovation & Design focusing on technopreneurship. His vertical of interest lies in Consumer Tech, SaaS as well as Ecommerce. During his free time, Mark enjoys binge-watching videos, anything from sitcoms to documentaries.
Daniel Wong
Daniel is a MBA student with NUS Business School. Apart from Protégé Ventures, Daniel has spent a number of years in biotech startups and in research with ASTAR, NUS, NTU, Engine Bioscience, Dandelion Therapeutics & Guardant Health. Unfortunately, he has no life.
Investment and Deals management
Our investment and deals management team executes deals, improves post-investment support for our startups,manages the existing portfolio and our investment memos. They also produce reports for our stakeholders.
Yong Hua Bing
Hua Bing is a graduating student in the SUTD-SMU Dual Degree Programme, studying Engineering Systems and Design (ESD) in SUTD and Business Management in SMU. During his first university internship, Hua Bing explored all 12 provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta to develop an understanding of the Vietnamese rice industry. This exposure to the dynamic and fast-rising Vietnam sparked his desire to gain greater exposure to overseas markets, especially those in Southeast Asia. With the transformational impact e-commerce has had on the region, Hua Bing’s interests lie in startups which seek to enable the proliferation of the industry.
Aloysius Ng
Aloysius is currently a Junior at SMU pursuing his Bachelors in Business Management, majoring in Finance. He is currently interested in the private investment industries such as property tech, construction tech, and supply chain tech. Apart from education and VC pursuits, he has also been rowing with Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore Coast Guard, and SMU. Other investment areas he is also interested in are public listed stocks and real estate investments.
Vincent Wong
Vincent is a sophomore at NUS studying Business Administration. Before joining Protégé Ventures, Vincent worked at Reactor, an early-stage EdTech startup that focuses on cultivating youth entrepreneurship. After that, he went on to work at Saison Capital, a fintech-focused VC, and Ivory Capital, a boutique investment bank. He enjoys analyzing companies regardless of their size, from young startups to mature companies. Due to his nasty addiction to TV shows, he is interested in companies that fall under the vertical of media and entertainment. Other than that, he enjoys playing table tennis and guitar on the side.
Ho Yan Yi
Yan Yi is a recent graduate from Nanyang Technological University, where she majored in Accountancy. Prior to joining Protégé Ventures, she was engaged in pro-bono consulting for Singapore’s largest Autism Spectrum Disorder non-profit, undergraduate research in neuromorphic computing and a string of finance internships. She is highly interested in EdTech, Esport and Real Estate Technology but is deathly allergic to chilli.
Benedict Chong
Benedict is a Finance major in his final year of study at Singapore Management University. Initially inspired by Shark Tank in 2017, he has actively explored the confluence of technology and finance, notably within private equity. This has led him to pursue internships with deep tech VC fund, elev8.vc, and data/SaaS-focused VC fund, Qualgro Partners. He has performed due diligence in deals within AI, IoT, EdTech and telecommunications, amongst others in the Southeast Asian markets, and was able to see through the closing of a seed-stage geolocation deal. At its core, he wishes to create sustainable value for his stakeholders. Outside of tech and finance, Benedict has cultivated a deep-seated appreciation of the arts — dabbling in dance, design, lettering and the humanities in his own time.
Research and Education
Our research and education team designs curriculum for our upcoming analysts, teaches lessons and expands upon research in various verticals. They also deal with internal administrative matters within Protégé.
Theodora Boo
Theodora is a final year business student at SMU, majoring in finance. As a huge technology believer, she has accumulated various international internship experiences in the sector on both the operational as well as investments side. Outside of work, she has fleeting interests in a wide variety of hobbies; for now, she is obsessed with working out and cafe hopping — a deadly combination. She is also currently trying out improv and learning Indonesian, but you may find her pursuing something else completely different a few months later!
Brian Chen
Brian is an ISTD graduate from SUTD, and currently a full time analyst in MDI Ventures. Verticals that he finds interesting are blockchain, cryptocurrencies, gaming (vice or not), and esports. Fun facts: he owned an engineering patent in his first year of studies, was a champ in Olympic weightlifting 2018, played Mobile Legends (5th in PVPEsports Campus League 2019), and likes existential memes.
Daniel Lam
Daniel is a 3rd year undergraduate at NUS with a major in Accounting and Finance. He has a couple of internship experiences in both the sell-side and buy-side, with a strong interest in the technical aspects of financials and valuations. Although he prefers to keep an open-mind, he is particularly interested in the Consumer and TMT sectors. Lastly, a fun fact is that he is slightly ambidextrous in sports — racket games with the left, ball games and darts with the right. He is able to drive with either hand, but is still trying to figure out his dominant position in golf!
Zhang Shenjia
Shenjia is a sophomore studying Computer Engineering at NUS.
Before Protégé, she worked at Business China, a non-profit organisation aiming to strengthen ties between Singapore and China.
Despite her technological background, she enjoys learning about startups of all sectors and is looking to gain a deeper understanding of the ecosystem. At school, she is a happy part of NUS Hackers and Tembusu College. Outside of school and work, she enjoys art, music and learning languages.
Tommy Tan
Tommy is a final year Accounting & Finance undergraduate at NUS. He has prior internship experiences in an Asset Management firm and a Real Estate fund.
He understands the importance of sustainability, and is keen to look for startups with innovative and sustainable solutions.
In his free time, Tommy enjoys playing Soccer, and recently picked up Spanish after watching Money Heist.
Issac Kwa
Isaac is an incoming 3rd year student at NUS Business School, currently taking a double specialisation in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He has interned in both a startup as well as a VC. Although he would largely consider himself a generalist, he does have a soft-spot for all things consumer-tech. In his free time, Isaac could be found dabbling in the sport of powerlifting, drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee or pouring over a good book.
Renae Pung
Renae just graduated from SUSS with a Major in Marketing. She did a 2-month solo internship stint in Laos which kickstarted her interest in Entrepreneurship and Sales. She’s passionate about the Foodtech and Health/Fitness verticals. Always on the lookout for the next learning adventure and experience, she loves taking the path less traveled, even if it means getting her hands dirty. Numbers and caffeine fuel her.
Chan Chia Ler
Chia Ler is a 3rd year student pursuing a computer science specialization under NTU’s Renaissance Engineering Programme. Having a deep interest in start-ups, he participated in several internships within the start-up ecosystem, where he was exposed to many outstanding founders and companies. He is especially keen on the edtech and deeptech verticals. In his free time, he enjoys going for late night runs, especially on cool silent starry nights. On lazier nights, he loves playing board games with his friends.
Manoj SK
Manoj is currently a Masters in Public Policy-Masters in Business Administration double degree student at the National University of Singapore. He has spent over 7 years in the non-profit education space in India and aspires to work in roles where he can change the ‘for-profit’ purpose of private capital in investments. In Singapore, he has interned with a venture capital firm and a sustainable finance non-profit, and is passionate about Ed-tech, Venture Capital for Social Impact and Impact Investing. Outside work, he is an avid Mixed Martial Arts fan, and as a certified scuba diver, he aspires to cover more exotic diving spots in South-East Asia.
Tan Jie Hui
Jie Hui is a penultimate student in the NTU Renaissance Engineering Programme, specializing in mechanical engineering.
She has completed internships at both an early-stage startup and VC.
Outside of that, she has also been honing her product design skills. As an avid shopper, she loves studying and testing out the many commerce models around the world. Her current top picks are XiaoHongShu and WeiDian.
In her free time, she likes to try out viral Tiktok recipes and DIY hacks.
Ashley Zhao Yun Yi
Ashley is a graduating student in SMU Finance and Operation Management majors. She has interned at Jakarta-based Kejora Ventures and Japanese VC STRIVE Singapore office and is currently interning at UOB Sector Solutions Group TMT team. She is passionate about SaaS and supply chain solutions as well as edtech. Outside work, she is a huge Mayday and Vae fan and speaks some Spanish which was picked up when she planned her exchange to Spain (unfortunately, she was recalled back to Singapore halfway into her exchange, due to Covid-19).
With a varied list of vertical interests and personal hobbies, our incoming batch is a personable bunch that are looking forward to the new connections that they can forge and to be able to contribute to the growth of startups and venture capital initiatives amongst youth. As we at Protégé keep our heads down and continually drive our organisation forward, we always stay true to our mission:
“We help student entrepreneurs build scalable ventures and train the brightest minds to be VC-ready.”
If you are are still unsure and want to find out more about Protégé Ventures: Join us at our virtual information sessions on 3 & 17 July here!
If you’re already ready to get started and join our dynamic team, apply for a position with us here!
We look forward to seeing you at our information sessions and recruitment!