Panel Session 5: 14:30 - 15:30
Start-Up Network and Understanding Venture Capital: Are You The Next Unicorn?
Adrian Hia
Partner, Kairous Capital
Adrian Hia (Partner, Kairous Capital)
Adrian Hia is a Partner at Kairous Capital, a regional venture capital firm in the Asia Pacific. He is enlisted in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (Class of 2020) and Tatler (Asia Most Influential) for his contribution and work in the venture capital industry. Venturing into venture capital industry with a law degree, he has developed a set of fresh perspective towards early-stage investment in the region. To date, he has reviewed more than 1000 deals, led the effort for more than 14 regional investments and managing assets size of USD250 million under Kairous Capital.
He has extensive experience in most stages in the full investment spectrum, such as deal sourcing, deal evaluation, deal structuring, investment execution, investment monitoring and exit. Some of his noticeable investments are iPayLinks, JomParking, and Intrepid Asia Group, and of them have successfully raised multiple rounds of fundraising from global
investors such as Tencent, Lenovo, Mirabaud, 500 Southeast Asia and Visionplus Capital. He is also equipped with extensive exit experience by involving in multiple IPO exercises in Hong Kong, China and United States.
With successful listing of Kairous Capital’s SPAC, he is also one of a very few professionals in Malaysia who has hands-on experience in listing a SPAC on Nasdaq.
Richard Ker
Chief Marketing Officer -
AERODYNE GROUP
Richard Ker (Chief Marketing Officer – AERODYNE GROUP)
Richard Ker is a technology influencer who runs his own digital agency called Richard Ker Digital. He is the former Chief Marketing Officer of Aerodyne Group, a drone-based enterprise solutions provider ranked first in the world with a presence in 35 countries. He is a TEDx innovation and keynote speaker who is highly immersed in the global startup and innovation ecosystem. He was previously attached to Cyberview, where he spearheaded Cyberjaya’s Living Lab and Smart City programs.
He was also with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) where he set up the ASEAN Centre of Entrepreneurship (ACE). Richard lived and worked in the tech industry for more than 10 years in Beijing before relocating back to Malaysia.
Lennise Ng
CEO, Dropee
Lennise Ng (CEO, Dropee)
Lennise is the CEO and co-founder of Dropee – a one-stop B2B eCommerce platform that makes wholesale buying and selling simple, intuitive, and mobile. Our mission is to enable SME businesses growth by providing the straightforward financial terms and customised inventory catalog that allows the right products to be stocked up on their shelves all the time.
Lennise’s first role in tech was being appointed as one of the youngest Country Launch Managers for Yelp Inc. – spearheading its launch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After Yelp, Lennise joined a local venture-building accelerator called Infinite Ventures (IV). During her tenure, IV has venture-built 10 companies across the marketplace, SaaS, and lifestyle travel industries.
In 2017, Lennise co-founded Dropee with a vision to revolutionise the way businesses buy and sell in bulk through a digital platform that promotes transparency and convenience. Dropee is now helping thousands of SME businesses solving their procurement struggles, and building stronger trust with their suppliers and banks.
A startup cheerleader by heart, Lennise is currently a participating mentor for Techstars’ Startup Weekend and Startup Victoria’s Female Founders.
Zain Amri Ayeob
Strategic Communications Advocator
Moderator: Zain Amri Ayeob (Strategic Communications Advocator)
Zain Amri Ayeob is an author, speaker, consultant, coach and content creator in the field of interpersonal and brand communications strategies. His largest live audience was at the World Communication Forum and MyHackathon. He has also done consulting work for TERAJU, KL Sea Games 2017, Digi, Ministry of Health, Harvard, and KKLW.
Currently, he provides strategic communications consulting work to MNCs, GLCs, and even public figures such as politicians and celebrities. He also provides coaching and training in the field of political digital communications, branding and selfpreneurship.
