Founders Zone

Anju Patwardhan is Managing Director at CE Innovation Capital, a global VC Fund that invests in Fintech companies and funds. She has invested in over 50 companies and eight VC Funds, mainly in the US, the UK, and Israel. She previously worked in banking for over two decades at Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in senior leadership roles, including Global Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Digital Banking Head.

She serves as an Independent Board Director on the boards of Gulf International Bank, (Saudi Arabia), Upgrade Inc., (USA), and Xapo Bank and Xapo VASP.

She is also on the Global Advisory Council of Stanford University's Distinguished Careers Institute and a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Fintech steering committee.

She has received several global awards including Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Distinguished Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Banking & Finance, and Global Alumni Recognition Award (GARA) from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Alumni Association.

She has lived and worked in Singapore, San Francisco, and India. She is an alumna of IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore.

Anna is a serial startup builder and founder, with 4 startup experiences pioneering enterprise software, solving mission critical business problems in Silicon Valley and one in Singapore. Anna is the Founder and CEO of Perx Technologies, a world leading loyalty engagement and gamification solution serving customers in 15+ markets. Anna has held growth and executive positions in pioneering startups and prominent technology companies such as Wily Technology, the pioneer in application performance monitoring category, which was later acquired by CA Technologies in 2006 for about US$400M. Anna was the youngest female leader at CA to have led the cloud computing business units. Her expertise in building and scaling cutting-edge technologies has earned her recognition as a Top 100 Women in Tech in Singapore, Singapore Women Entrepreneur Awards, and LinkedIn CEO Power Profiles. Known as the "turn around girl," Anna is a TEDx speaker and a sought-after global keynote speaker on topics such as disruptive technologies, scaling startups, cultural and digital transformation, and modern leadership. Anna holds advisory and board roles at Duke Corporate Education and the Genius Group (NYSE: GNS). She mentors for various organizations including Google SE Asia Accelerator, Unreasonable Group, and Southeast Asia Founders Network and is a proud YPO member.

Bo Chen is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Xendit, a payments company based in Southeast Asia. He is responsible for overseeing the overall product and technology infrastructure of the company. Bo and his team have built the product and technology infrastructure from scratch.

Bo graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with double majors in computer science and electrical engineering. He also had a brief stint as a software engineer at Ripple, a fintech blockchain startup based in San Francisco, before co-founding Xendit.

Under Bo's leadership, Xendit has introduced a variety of payment products that have helped over 5,000 businesses, ranging from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to larger enterprises, in Indonesia, The Philippines, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries. These products simplify fragmented payment solutions for businesses.

Xendit has .been the first to market in Indonesia for building API payouts, Platform Accounts, and Name Validation. In the Philippines, Xendit has been the first to market for API direct debit. Bo firmly believes that innovation in the payments infrastructure layer can have life-changing impacts on business owners and their countries' socioeconomic status. He points to successful examples in mature payments markets like China, Singapore, and India.

In 2022, Xendit achieved more than $20 billion in combined payments volume and processed over 200 million transactions for merchants across the region. Bo sees this as just the beginning of expanding economic participation and equitability for the region. He aims to provide SMEs and startups with the same access to powerful payments technology that is available to larger enterprises, in order to drive further growth and inclusion

Chatri Sityodtong is the Founder and CEO of ONE, Asia’s largest billion-dollar global sports media property with a worldwide broadcast to 190 countries.

According to Nielsen, ONE ranks amongst the world’s top 10 biggest sports media properties (alongside NBA, F1, Champions League, EPL, etc) in terms of viewership and engagement. With its passionate Millennial and Gen Z community, ONE is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural treasure, Martial Arts, and the deep-rooted values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion. As the world’s largest martial arts organization, ONE is on a mission to unleash real-life superheroes, tell stories, celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.

Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. He is also the latest star of The Apprentice, the award-winning, global reality TV show on Netflix. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and other major media. He was named Asia’s King of Martial Arts by the Financial Times, and Asia’s 2nd Most Powerful Person in Sports by FOX Sports. Business Insider also ranked him as one of Asia’s top 100 business leaders.

Inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, Sityodtong has over 35+ years of martial arts experience. He is a certified senior Muay Thai instructor under the legendary Kru Yodtong Senanan. He also holds a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Master Renzo Gracie.

Chatri Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.

Kunal Shah is a financial services entrepreneur and investor. He founded one of India’s earliest fintech firms, FreeCharge, which pioneered online payments. Kunal’s latest venture, CRED, founded in 2018, is a platform that brings the benefits of high-trust communities to creditworthy individuals, brands, and financial institutions. An advocate of India’s startup ecosystem, Kunal has over 150+ angel investments, several of which are in fintech. He has been an advisor to the board of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. [India’s largest publisher], the Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India, and an advisor to Sequoia Capital India. He is also on the board of Pine Labs. Kunal actively promotes and participates in financial literacy and female workforce participation initiatives.

Manu Chopra is working on tackling extreme poverty by providing dignified digital work to rural Indians. He is the co-founder and CEO of Karya, a transformative AI collective that is enabling dignified livelihoods by bringing supplementary income to vulnerable rural populations at scale. Karya was recently featured on the cover of the Time Magazine for its work in using AI to move communities out of poverty, and Manu was nominated among Time 100 Most Influential People In AI.

Chopra graduated from Stanford University in 2017, where he co-founded CS+Social Good — Stanford’s first student group focused on technology and impact. He has also taught several tech for good courses in Stanford’s computer science department. 

Melissa C. Guzy is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures. Before founding of Arbor Ventures, Melissa was a Managing Partner and a member of the Investment Committee at VantagePoint Capital Partners, where she invested in early stage technology companies in Asia, Europe and Silicon Valley. Her current board positions include EverCompliant, Fundbox, InCountry, Tabby, Planck Re and TrueAccord. Melissa was the investor board member of Paidy which was acquired by Paypal for $2.88 billion.

Melissa attended Wellesley College and earned a master’s degree in Finance from the University of Florida. She is the author of the paper “Venture Capital Returns and Public Market Performance.” Melissa is the Co-Chair of the Hong Kong Venture Capital Association (“HKVCA”) Venture Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of the HKVCA and the SVCA and a former member to the Hong Kong SFC on Innovation. Melissa has been recognized as a Top 100 Influencer in Fintech (NxtBnk), AlwaysOn Fintech Power Player, as well as one of the Top 13 Women in Asia of Tech Influencers.

Rob Schimek is the Group Chief Executive Officer of bolttech. He leads the bolttech team across our operations globally, overseeing our growth and partnership opportunities.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Rob has previously held senior leadership roles in insurance, including Managing Director & Group Chief Operating Officer for FWD Group, President and CEO of AIG’s commercial insurance businesses worldwide and Chief Executive Officer of the Americas for AIG. Prior to that, Rob served as President and Chief Executive Officer of EMEA for AIG and was the Chief Financial Officer of AIG’s global property and casualty insurance business.

Before joining AIG, Rob was a partner at Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. where, for 18 years, he used his public accounting experience to serve global financial institution clients, including MetLife, The Prudential Insurance Company of America, and Merrill Lynch.

Rob is a C.P.A. He earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Rider University in New Jersey.

Outside of work, Rob can be found in the gym or competing in some of the world’s toughest endurance competitions such as the FWD 78° North Marathon, one of the most northern marathons in the world, and the Ironman World Championships.

Samuel Rhee is Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Endowus, Asia’s leading digital wealth platform. He is the former CEO and CIO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Asia, with nearly three decades of institutional investing experience in Singapore, Hong Kong, and London.

Today, Sam heads the Endowus Group Investment Office and ensures every client has greater access to holistic portfolios that are thoughtfully designed to meet their specific wealth goals. He is responsible for the company’s asset allocation and investment selection across all offerings, with a vision to provide individual investors with the same knowledge, resources, and products traditionally only made available to institutional investors, at a low, fair fee. 

Against this backdrop, Sam passionately advocates for greater financial literacy, time-tested and evidence-based advice, lower costs, the industry elimination of hidden fees, and a corporate culture that puts the client’s needs first. Endowus solves the biggest problems of wealth and investing, and retirement adequacy, leading the firm to become the first and largest digital advisor for CPF investing in Singapore.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram has over 8 years of experience in the field of Digital health care as the Co- Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Sehat Kahani is a widely used Digital Health Care platform in Pakistan with the vision to democratize health care access for all using technology and a committed network of doctors with the commitment to enable flexible work opportunities for female doctors otherwise facing socio-cultural barriers to practice.Sehat Kahani’s platform as available as an Mobile Application for the mass consumers and corporations and as e-clinics in low income communities.

Sehat Kahani’s mobile application is used by 1.5M+ consumers, and 725+ corporates today. Sehat Kahani also has the largest network of 62 E-clinics nationwide. Over 2.5 M+ consultations have been conducted on the platform overall impacting 7.2 millions lives till date via consultations, counselling and health education.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram is A Young Global Leader(class 22) by World Economic Forum, an IWLS Fellow by National Defence University(Pakistan), Rainer Arnhold Fellow by Mulago Foundation, A Cartier Fellow 2018, an Acumen fellow 2016, a Tedx speaker and a Cherie Blair Foundation alumnus. She is the also the first Frontier Innovator from Pakistan in 2017.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram has won notable awards for her work such as the Heroine of HealthCare Award 2022 by Women in Global Health Forum, Stuart Weitzman Bold Move Award 2022, We-Empower award 21,the Rolex Awards 2019 as Associate Laureate, TIAW Award, CRDF Global Awards, Ashoka Changemakers, ISIF Asia, The Unilever Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Awards, The UNICEF Global Goal Campaigner Award 2016 and Arpatech Young Entrepreneurs Award 2017 for her work.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram serves on the advisory board of CLUE, a Menstrual cycle tracker app and serves as member of Policy forum on Gender and Finance by State bank and Technical Advisory Committee, National Human Development Report 2023.She was a part of the WGH Pakistan Power Delegation in Paris 2021. 

Vinod Nair is the founder and CEO of MoneySmart Group. Passionate about entrepreneurship and the Internet, he established MoneySmart.sg in 2009, today a leading online personal finance platform offering a range of financial products and services to help individuals make informed decisions about their money. Under Vinod’s dynamic leadership, the MoneySmart online marketplace and content platform has achieved strong growth in the past decade with presence in both Singapore and Hong Kong. MoneySmart Group has since expanded its ecosystem with the founding of Bubblegum in 2022, an insurance brand that aims to revolutionise the insurance landscape by bringing consumers the best value insurance products and seamless end-to-end digital experience. Vinod continues to play an instrumental role in guiding the business to the forefront of the sector.