Team
Our SEA-focused team comprises veteran entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and experienced hires.
PARTNERS
Successfully exited three tech companies
B. Paul Santos is Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners and led the establishment of the Singapore-headquartered Southeast Asia (SEA) office in 2012. The firm is SEA’s go-to early-stage VC for enterprise and deep tech with over $180M in assets under management (AUM) across 3 funds. 116 out of the 136 (85%) portfolio companies the firm has invested in since 2012 are in enterprise & deep tech. Its portfolio includes startups in software, AI and cybersecurity as well as precision agriculture, cleantech, additive manufacturing and laser communications.
Investee companies that have managed to raise significant financing rounds include Zilingo, Blaize, GudangAda and Novade. Companies that have achieved significant traction include eFishery, Growsari, Lynk and Silent Eight. Exits include TradeGecko’s $80M acquisition by Intuit, Moka’s acquisition for $130M and Coins.ph for $72M by Gojek, Red Dot Payment by PayU/Naspers for $65M+ and Wavecell by 8×8 for $125M.
Paul is an Advisor to the Singapore Management University (SMU) Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) where he is also an Adjunct Faculty Member. He is also a member of the Singapore chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). His angel investments are in non-tech companies in industries like distribution, pest control and logistics.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Paul was an entrepreneur who had co-founded six companies across multiple industries and sold three of them. He started his career as a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble (P&G). He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a B.S. in Management Engineering and a Joint Minor in International Management with the University of Antwerp.
Venture capitalist
Gavin leads the investment team at Wavemaker Partners and is responsible for all investment-related activities. He has led and participated in more than 100 investments and actively supports several Wavemaker Partners’ portfolio companies including Shield and eFishery.
Gavin had started his career in venture capital with Matrix Partners China and Infocomm Investments, a Singapore government venture firm now called SGInnovate. Before that, he helped to run his family business in home furnishings and sleep products.
Gavin graduated with a BA in Financial Economics from Columbia University in the City of New York and is currently undertaking an Executive MBA in Finance at Tsinghua University.
Eric Manlunas
General Partner
Wavemaker US Founder and SEA General Partner
Eric is Founder of Wavemaker US and is General Partner at Wavemaker SEA. He started his career in consulting at Arthur Andersen focusing on the retail sector. He then founded 2 companies which were both acquired – Interfoods acquired by La Reina and SiteStar acquired by Lynchburg.net. In 2003 he made the move into venture capital. Since then, he has made over 150 investments including 3 unicorns – Digital Globe (NYSE: DIGI), MindBody (NASDAQ: MB) and Viagogo. He has also led investments into StyleHaul (acquired by RTL), Phunware (IPO) and 17Hats.
Property Guru co-founder
Steve is one of the rare entrepreneurs in the region who has built a market leader and raised more than US$200M of capital. He co-founded Property Guru in 2007, leading and growing the business into Southeast Asia’s leading online property group. He recently joined Wavemaker as Venture Partner helping source and evaluate deals.
Recovering Investment banker
Sui Ling joined Wavemaker in 2017. As Operating Partner, she is responsible for helping the mature companies in Wavemaker’s portfolio with business development, follow-on financing, and eventual exits. She spent 20 years in investment banking raising capital for high growth companies and executing cross-border M&A. In her most recent role, she served as the Head of Corporate Finance SEA at BNP Paribas. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, she was Executive Director of Investment Banking at JP Morgan Singapore. Sui Ling started her career with Merrill Lynch New York followed by stints in Singapore and London. She graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts in French and Economics.
TEAM
Research | Advisory | Consulting
Manuel oversees the firm’s research practice, supporting due diligence processes. He was previously a Research Director for IT Services advisory firm, Tholons, where he led consulting projects for Fortune 500 clients and institutional bodies such as the IADB (Inter-American Development Bank) and the World Bank. Prior, Manuel was a Research Manager for IDC (International Data Corporation), heading country operations in the Philippines. In this role, he was responsible for market research and consulting projects for country and regional ICT sectors, focusing on Enterprise Servers, PCs, IT Services, Mobile and Software markets. Manuel graduated with a Masters degree in Information Sciences from the Universidad de Navarra (Spain), and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Asia & the Pacific (Philippines).
Talent Acquisition and Management | Organisational Development | Community and Platform
Rachel leads strategic projects and supports the organisational development of Wavemaker. She also leads the Community and Platform team to help accelerate growth of portfolio companies.
Rachel has 15 years’ experience in HR and Talent Acquisition from Singapore, New Zealand, and Malaysia. During her four years at 90 Seconds from seed stage to Series B, she was the Head of Talent, hired as the 17th employee and helped grow the business to over 180 employees, spanning across Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, and UK. Partnering with the Founder/CEO and leading a team of eight, Rachel built the entire talent organization, including Talent Acquisition (engineering and non-engineering), Talent Management, and HR and Compliance.
Intellectual Property and Tech Lawyer
Wenshan practiced as an intellectual property and tech lawyer for 5 years before making the shift in-house as a dedicated legal counsel. Across stints in Mediacorp, ZALORA, 90 Seconds and Circles.Life, he has encountered and helped to solve a wide variety of problems and legal issues for companies across various stages of growth
Finance
Ivy is responsible for matters related to financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, and liaising with external auditors and tax agents. Ivy brings with her more than 12 years’ experience in auditing and accounting. Most recently, she was the Assistant Finance Manager at Kelly Services, where she was responsible for the Southeast Asia region across multiple business units. Ivy holds an MBA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.
Chris manages HR, finance, and administration for Wavemaker, providing guidance and support for our portfolio companies in these areas whenever required. Prior to joining Wavemaker, she was HR and Administration manager for 3I Infotech where she managed the full spectrum of HR support for 400 employees in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Australia.
Investments
Kano focuses on the sourcing and evaluation of deals across South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She has over 8 years of experience in investments and consulting. Prior to joining Wavemaker, Kano was an investment manager in the private equity team at Aberdeen Standard Investments, where she invested in mid-sized companies across a wide range of industries. She started her career as a management consultant at PwC in London. Kano holds a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Warwick.
Deep Tech | Industrial | Thailand
Joel is involved in the sourcing and evaluation of deals, due diligence, and the preparation of investment proposals for the fund’s investment decisions. He oversees the Deep Tech and Thailand portfolio companies for Wavemaker. Prior to Wavemaker, Joel worked under the M&A Advisory team of PwC Singapore and the Finance team of government venture capital firm Infocomm Investments (now SG Innovate). Joel graduated Summa Cum Laude from Singapore Management University with a double degree in Business Management and Accountancy.
Retail and Distribution | Media | Sustainability | Indonesia
Melissa focuses on retail and distribution, marketing and media, sustainability, proptech and funtech investments, as well as the Indonesian and Malaysian market. Prior to Wavemaker, she led Shopee’s Regional Marketing (Partnerships) team, where she sourced and nurtured strategic platform-wide partnerships across synergistic industries. She also held various roles at Singapore Airlines, from corporate strategy, fuel procurement and hedging to product innovation and management. Melissa graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a double major in International Relations and Economics.
Fintech | Banking | Energy | Indonesia
Ajay is involved in the sourcing and evaluation of deals, due diligence, and the preparation of investment proposals for the fund’s investment decisions. He focuses on the performance of Wavemaker’s Fintech and Agritech portfolio companies as well as the Indonesian and South Asian markets. Previously, Ajay was a consultant with Deloitte Consulting in the United States, focusing on human capital strategy for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, Ajay has experience in banking, energy, and startups in both emerging and developed markets. Ajay graduated from Emory University with a degree in Economics.
Agri | Philippines
Toby is involved in the sourcing and evaluation of deals, due diligence, and the preparation of investment proposals for the fund’s investment decisions. He monitors the performance of Wavemaker’s Philippine-based portfolio companies. Toby also helps with due diligence and investment research in his role as part of Wavemaker’s research team. Previously, he worked at Development Finance International helping Fortune 500 companies integrate sustainable practices and expand into emerging markets by leveraging opportunities with the World Bank and other multilateral institutions. At Tholons, he led a team conducting research and consultancy for clients in the IT-enabled services sector. Toby graduated with a degree in Development Studies from Ateneo de Manila University.
Investor relations | Compliance | Operations
Colin supports the firm in investor relations, fundraising, compliance, and fund operations. Before joining Wavemaker, Colin served as a data analyst at Bloomberg, where he held responsibilities across data insights, client relations, product, and process improvements. Prior to that, Colin was also in various operations and manufacturing supervisory roles in the oilfield services and aerospace industries, and was based in both Singapore and the United States. Colin graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Hons.).
Education | Healthcare | Enterprise | Vietnam
Prior to Wavemaker, Phuong was one of the founding member of Vietnam’s local VC VinaCapital Ventures, where she sourced, executed, and added value to seed and Series A investments. She also worked as a project coordinator to develop a joint venture project between a Singaporean petrochemical firm and Vietnam’s largest refinery (Dung Quat).
VC Platform | Portfolio Support | Marketing
Pearl leads community and platform initiatives which connect a trusted community of early-stage entrepreneurs and supporters. She specialises in marketing with expertise in brand building, communications, digital marketing, and analytics. Prior to joining Wavemaker, Pearl was a content marketer in the Singapore Economic Development Board promoting investment in priority sectors. Previously, she was a branded content editor at Tech in Asia. She also worked on digital entertainment, distribution, and Southeast Asian esports with one of the world’s largest PC video game titles. Pearl graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours).
Business Support | Pitman Shorthand
Mandy is Executive Assistant at Wavemaker Partners. Prior to joining Wavemaker, she held various adminstrative and secretarial roles, directly supporting C-suite executives and senior management across industries, including professional services, FMCG, and hospitality. She was also a part-time lecturer preparing students for a variety of administrative and secretarial qualifications in a vocational education insitution and the LCCI. She is an expert in shorthand, such as Pitman New Era and Pitman 2000.
Vasundhara Tankha
Director of Partnerships
Partnerships | Investor Relations | Community and Platform
Vasundhara is focusing on building relationships with investors and corporates. She has 8 years of experience in investor relations and finance.
Prior to joining Wavemaker, Vasundhara was an Investor Relations Manager at PayPal in San Francisco. She started her career with Morgan Stanley where she spent 6 years between London and New York.
Vasundhara holds a Masters in Management from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelors in Economics from the Delhi University.
Investments
YJ is involved in the sourcing and evaluation of deals, due diligence, and the preparation of investment proposals for the fund’s investment decisions. Prior to Wavemaker, YJ was most recently at Enterprise Singapore where his work involved supporting startups across several verticals, including enterprise tech and B2C sectors, as well as catalyzing private investments into startups through various programs. YJ graduated from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, USA, with a Master of Science in Management Studies, where he also pursued the Chartered Financial Analyst Program and passed Levels 1, 2 and 3.
Healthcare | Property | Retail | Vietnam
Hiep is involved in the evaluation of deals, due diligence, and the preparation of investment proposals for the fund’s investment decisions. Prior to Wavemaker, Hiep was part of Vietnam Investments Group where he spent his summer assisting the due diligence and strategic support functions within the F&B sector. Most recently, he was a summer analyst within the Corporate Debt Capital Markets team within TD Securities in New York, helping with the debt issuance process for companies within the Energy, Industrial, and REITs sector. Hiep graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a major in Finance and a minor in Sociology.
