2016 sparklabs global year-end review
TRANSCRIPT
Public Report
SparkLabs Global Ventures 2016 Year-End Review
02 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
We are a new type of seed-stage fund. We believe business is now truly global. Exceptional entrepreneurs, that are building strong, category defining companies at highly advantageous valuations – can be found anywhere. We are a team highly experienced in finding such talent and helping our entrepreneurs to develop, grow, network, and scale into other markets throughout the world.
Entrepreneurs Growing Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs Growing Entrepreneurs “SparkLabs Global has been not only instrumental to 88 RISING’s launch and success in 2016 as a seed investor, but they have been critical to our ongoing growth because of their hands on approach to helping 88 RISING in all aspects of our business. Whether it has been strategic counsel, legal advice, resourcing us with connections in media, investment firms, or other helpful ways, SparkLabs Global is truly not just a smart investment group but valuable operational support to 88 RISING. We could not be more grateful and honored for SparkLabs Global to be our shareholder and partner in 88 RISING.”
88rising.com www.youtube.com/88rising www.facebook.com/88rising
Jaeson Ma Co-founder of 88 Rising
03 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
Summary of Investment Activities: GEOGRAPHY
US 28
EUROPE 14
ASIA 13 ISRAEL 3
LATIN AMERICA
1 AFRICA 1
04 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
47%
24%
21%
5%
2% 2%
Year-End Update
Since December 2013, we have invested in 60 companies. Our global approach means that we can pick thebest deals in the right geographies where the sectors are hottest. For example, London has become the leader in fintech, deep tech is growing fast in Scandinavia and South Korea, cybersecurity in Israel and ecommerce in Asia.
Summary of Investment Activities: INDUSTRIES
FINTECH 13
*One company was counted twice in IoT and Digital Health
MOBILE APPLICATION 7
ONLINE GAMING 7
INTERNET OF THINGS 7
COMMERCE 6
DIGITAL HEALTH 5
OTHERS 16
05 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Since December 2013, we have invested across most sectors besides capital intensive startups (i.e. biotech, pharma, cleantech), but have concentrated on 6 general areas: FinTech, Mobile App, IoT, Online Gaming, Ecommerce, and Digital Health sectors.
Year-End Update
Co-Investors
06 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
Entrepreneurs Growing Entrepreneurs
“During 2016, the SparkLabs Global team continued their close involvement with Petnet’s fundraising, making introductions that directly led to $12 million of the $17 million we have raised to date.”
www.petnet.io Carlos Herrera Co-founder & CEO of Petnet
07 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
News SparkLabs Global
08 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund II
Limited Partner Update
William Chu is a Venture Partner at SparkLabs Global Ventures and the Managing Partner for SparkLabs FinTech in Hong Kong, which will be a new accelerator that we are launching under SparkLabs. William joins us from Zheng He Capital, a Hong Kong based private equity firm with a focus on fintech and healthcare. He spearheaded the firm’s lead investor role in the US$500 million Series A Round financing of Ping An Good Doctor, a Ping An Insurance subsidiary tasked with building an online health ecosystem in China. William was also involved in Zheng He’s lead investor role in the US$500 million Series A Round and the subsequent US$1.2 billion Series B Round of Lufax, another Ping An Insurance subsidiary that has become the world’s largest online financial asset exchange.
09 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I News New Venture Partner William Chu
Year-End Update
10 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I News Portfolio Exits in 2016 Year-End Update
ACQUIRED BY
ACQUIRED BY
Sector: HR Tech Product: Online career assessment Location: San Francisco, CA Co-investors: Norwest, Playfair Capital, Techstars
Sector: Mobile App, Online Music Product: Music discovery app Location: Dublin, Ireland Co-investors: Mark Cuban, ACT Ventures
Highlights for 2016 portfolio
11 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund II
Limited Partner Update
Portfolio Highlights: Memebox
12 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
$126 Million USD in Series C & Extension $100M in annual Sales
Portfolio Highlights: Andela
$24 Million USD
13 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
SERIES B
Year-End Update
Portfolio Highlights: Payoff
14 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
$47 Million USD
SERIES C
Portfolio Highlights: Lifesum
$10 Million USD
15 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund II
SERIES B
Health Startup Lifesum raises $10M round led by Nokia Growth Partners
Year-End Update
Portfolio Highlights: PetNet
16 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
$10 Million USD
SERIES A
Petnet raises $10M round led by Petco
Year-End Update
Portfolio Highlights:
17 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Blend Aire Social Media FinTech
Blend raised Series A extension from Thomas Tull (Oct 2016)
Aire raised $2M seed round (Oct 2016)
Year-End Update
Portfolio Highlights:
18 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Health2Sync Healthcare / IoT
Spinlist Social Music
Spinlist Launches New Playlist App (Nov 2016)
Health2Sync Raised $3M Series A led by WI Harper (August 2016)
Year-End Update
Portfolio Highlights:
19 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund II
v
KnowRe DoubleMe Castle.io Education Technology Virtual Reality Cyber Security
Year-End Update
The Power of SparkLabs Our separate but affiliated startup accelerator, SparkLabs, continues to extend its influence and brand across Asia. We believe our approach is unique in relation to our global seed fund, SparkLabs Global Ventures.
20 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Leading Accelerator in Asia
01
Each accelerator program stands on its own, and doesn’t need investment from our Global seed fund. For Seoul, this accelerator fund has a NAV of 199% and up 6x.
No Negative Signaling
02
76% follow-on rate is 2nd only after Y Combinator. Our first entity in Seoul has invested in 65 companies with only 12investments from SparkLabs Global
Stronger Deal Flow
03
Even our accelerator in Seoul attracts startups from over 20 countries and has an average raise over $400,000 prior to joining. IoT’s 1st batch continues to validate our growing brand.
Increasing Brand & Influence
04
Strong demand for our accelerator has come from Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Germany and other major markets. We will expand with judicious swiftness.
Year-End Update
The Power of SparkLabs
* Not a complete breakdown
21 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Demoday NO.7 Participants total
1834 Government &
Academia 224
358
746
40 Media
Investors
Startups & Corporates
* Not a complete breakdown
DemoDay5 became the largest startup demo day in the world with over 1,400 attendees. DemoDay6 had over 1,500 and DemoDay7 this past June 22, 2016 had over 1,800 with attendees from the U.S., China, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and others. In 2016, we expanded our accelerator with a new IoT & Smart City program based in Songdo, Korea. In 2017, we are launching SparkLabs Beijing and a new FinTech program in Hong Kong.
Year-End Update
22 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Our Honorary Advisors for SparkLabs
Year-End Update
23 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
• $35 billion smart city built from ground up. • 2nd largest private real estate development in history. • 80,000 apartment units • Currently over 36,000 residents • 50 million square feet of office space and 10 million
square feet of retail space • SparkLabs is the exclusive IoT test bed partner
SONGDO: Smart City of the Future
Year-End Update
The Power of SparkLabs: SparkLabs IOT & Smart City Accelerator 6-month long Internet of Things program for seed to early-stage entrepreneurs from anywhere across the globe. This program will be located in Songdo, South Korea. Also selected startups will benefit from support by the Cisco Global Center of Excellence (GCoE), Cisco Innovation Center at Songdo to further mature their solutions with local technical support available under the GCoE’s Solution Incubation Program.
24 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Internet of things
Open Data
Smart Agriculture
Smart Home
Smart Grid/Energy
Smart Government
Smart Retail
Smart Health
Smart Mobility
SONGDO: Smart City of the Future
The Power of SparkLabs: Exclusive Startup Partnership Songdo will be an amazing test bed for consumer, industrial, hardware, and other IoT startups. Our 1st batch launch in November 2016, and has 14 startups (5 from the U.S., 4 from South Korea, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Switzerland, 1 from India, 1 from Australia, and 1 from Taiwan) with an average raise of $2.8 million prior to joining our program.
Year-End Update
The Power of SparkLabs SparkLabs Beijing will be launching at the end of 2016 in partnership with CITIC Guoan Academy. Guoan Academy is a subsidiary of CITIC Guoan Group, which is the largest industrial subsidiary of CITIC Group. CITIC Group is a leading state-run financial institutional in China with over US$514 billion in assets under management. Guoan Academy is the largest and leading professional knowledge service provider in China's startup ecosystem. Beyond China, we have been approached to expand our accelerator to Taipei, Tokyo and considering Jakarta, Tel Aviv, Stockholm and other locations in the coming years.
25 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Be i j i ng
Year-End Update
Our Entrepreneurs What They Say
26 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
“SparkLabs team was extremely value-add - they provided strategic advice, brokered relationships, and was 100% committed to supporting us in building our company. They opened more doors for us than any other investor. SparkLabs is an extension of your team. I would work with them in a heartbeat.”
“YJ and I, along with the entire team at KnowRe are ecstatic to be a part of the SparkLabs family, beginning from our days in the accelerator. As an investor and mentor, SparkLabs brings a partnership that truly embodies the characteristics of a family - being involved, bringing to bear ALL of one's resources, a genuine concern for someone that goes far beyond self-interest. This type of partnership invariably leads to a deep trust. As entrepreneurs turned investors, SparkLabs has a distinct understanding of both tectonic shifts in industry and the needs of, say a junior marketing employee. This unique vertical acumen is extremely valuable and a critical component to growth.”
“Love working with these guys. Gives ‘sweat capital’ an entirely new meaning, going to all lengths around the world to get us what we need.”
Akash Nigam, Co-founder & CEO of Blend
Somrat Niyogi, Co-founder & CEO of Stitch *acquired by SugarCRM
David Joo, Co-founder & Co-CEO of KnowRe
Year-End Update
27 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
“SparkLabs has been an amazing partner for us - they set the bar high, but have helped us every step of the way. Not only has the SparkLabs team provided market-vetted advice and feedback, but they’ve been out front in making key introductions and resources. Iodine is proud to be part of the SparkLabs clan.”
“The partners at SparkLabs are amazing people and have been a motivating force since the early days of Petnet. They are forward thinking in the way they think about the internet of things and how it will shape they way people shop for consumables. They have an expansive global network of executives, advisors, and investors who are ready to help in any form necessary. SparkLabs is an essential team member for companies who are looking to expand their brand globally.”
“SparkLabs is an amazing team of investors. The partners are experienced operators from around the globe who have helped us with not only key business issues, but also bouncing new ideas. Everyone is intelligent and charismatic, so it's easy to see why the fund has such an expansive network of founders, senior executives, and advisors who are always there to help. If you're a founder who cares about scale, international expansion, or just adding an awesome extension to your team - SparkLabs is your fund.”
Cathy Han, Co-founder & CEO of 42 (YC W14)
Thomas Goetz, Co-founder & CEO of Iodine
Carlos Herrera, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Petnet
Year-End Update
Our Entrepreneurs What They Say
28 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
“MangoPlate exists today due to the amazing advice and guidance we received from SparkLabs Global Ventures. They are entrepreneurs themselves so they provide extremely practical and realistic guidance. We fully trust that they will always provide guidance from the entrepreneurial perspective, thus we continue to seek their advice regarding all aspects of MangoPlate from vision, HR, operations and to funding. Their team has been nothing short of amazing for MangoPlate and we are so blessed to be a part of the SparkLabs family.”
“The partners at SparkLabs are connected. Globally. They have unmatched entrepreneurial hustle and are raising the bar for value-add from an investor.”
“Suffice it to say that SparkLabs has played a significant role in the Squirrel story! Heck, they were even involved before we became known as Squirrel! SparkLabs has taken on the role of investor, mentor, facilitator, talent source, sounding board and all-round supporter of everything Squirrel as of day 1. Their commitment to our success has come through in every interaction with the outspoken Frank Meehan and team at SparkLabs, and they've been a great partner on our amazing journey so far. I look forward to continuing to see that partnership flourish as they help us work towards making financial freedom a reality in the UK and beyond!”
Mutaz Qubbaj, Co-founder & CEO of Squirrel
Joon Oh, Co-founder & CEO of MangoPlate
Scott Saunders, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Payoff
Year-End Update
Our Entrepreneurs What They Say
29 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
“Code Kingdoms is delighted to part of the SparkLabs family. The partners understand entrepreneurs because they are entrepreneurs themselves - the guidance and support provide is always insightful, relevant and timely. Having SparkLabs as an investor has been a significant contributor to the growth of our company and also provided immense learning opportunities from fellow portfolio companies and wider network.”
“SparkLabs' passion for Memebox inspired us to go global and expand to Silicon Valley. Their support was felt every step of the way as we launched the Silicon Valley office and graduated from Y Combinator. Since their involvement we've successfully closed both a Series A and B funding round, within a year. It has been a rewarding experience having SparkLabs Global Ventures as our investor and partner as we continue to share our products with the global audience.”
“The team at SparkLabs have struck a read chord with everyone here at Soundwave due to the fact that, first and foremost, they are all entrepreneurs. We've really enjoyed tapping into their experience as we navigate our way through building and scaling Soundwave. It’s reassuring to know that they are always on the other end of the phone, email, sms, IM or Skype!”
Brendan O’Driscoll, Co-founder & CEO of Soundwave *acquired by Spotify
Ross Targett, Co-founder & CEO of Code Kingdoms
Dino Ha, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Memebox (YC W14)
Year-End Update
Our Entrepreneurs What They Say
Portfolio Companies Select
30 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Limited Partner Update
Education Commerce
FinTech
Select Portfolio Companies By Sector
31 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Internet of Things
Mobile
Gaming
Healthcare
Social
Market Place
HR VR Project Management Platform
Security CyGov
Year-End Update
Ireland
Select Portfolio Companies By Country
32 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
USA Korea
England
Singapore Nigeria Israel Peru
Sweden
CyGov
Year-End Update
33 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Andela
www.andela.com
Andela is a global talent accelerator that produces world-class developers and connects them with top employers. Andela finds the brightest young people in Africa and gives them the training and mentorship needed to thrive as full-time, remote developers for companies around the world. Andela has been recognized by Inc. magazine as “10 Tech Companies Shaking Up Their Industries” and VentureBeat’s list of “14 startups that will change our everyday life”. Andela raised seed funding from Steve Case, Omidyar Network, Founder Collective, Learn Capital, Melo7 Tech Partners and Chris Hughes.
Sector HR, Social Enterprise
Location New York City, NY & Lagos, Nigeria
Product Online Platform
Co-Investors Spark Capital, Steve Case, Omidyar Network
Year-End Update
34 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Lifesum
www.lifesum.com
Lifesum is a Stockholm-based digital health startup that offers its users a flexible platform to support and encourage a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Lifesum wants to make people healthier and happier by helping users to forge good habits on their journey towards a better lifestyle, as well as an improved overall quality of life. Recognized among the best apps in the App Store 3 years in a row (2013-2015), top ten in free and paid among Health & Fitness apps in the U.S., and featured in Apple’s keynote talk on their healthkit launch. Lifesum was also a launch partner for Google Fit and Google Now, and was the most downloaded app in November 2015 on Samsung Gear S2 watch. Lifesum raised $6.7 million of funding from Bauer Media and SparkLabs Global Ventures in their Series A round, and recently closed a $10M Series B from Nokia Growth and DFJ Esprit.
Sector Healthcare, Mobile
Location Stockholm, Sweden
Product Health & Fitness App
Co-Investors Bauer Media, Nokia Growth, DFJ Esprit
Year-End Update
35 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Petnet
www.petnet.io
Petnet’s first product, the SmartFeeder programs itself around your life and the wellness of your pet. SmartFeeder assesses the dietary requirements of your pet, creates a custom feeding regimen to meet those requirements, alerts you when your pet has been fed and even reminds you to purchase more food when you run low. From your smartphone, tablet or computer, you and all your pet’s caregivers can monitor and/or adjust feeding schedules, compare your pet’s diet to other similar pets, order food, and more. In 2013, spending in the U.S. hit an estimated $55.53 billion for pet care, with most of that amount, or $21.26 billion, going toward food.
Sector Internet of Things / Hardware
Location Los Angeles, CA
Product Smart Feeder
Co-Investors Grishin Robotics, Kima Ventures, Bolt
Petnet raised a seed round from Grishin Robotics, Kima Ventures, and SparkLabs Global Ventures. Petnet received initial funding while participating in Bolt, a seed- stage fund and incubator in Boston for h ardware startups. Recently closed a $10M Series A with Petco as the lead.
Year-End Update
36 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Genoplan
www.genoplan.com
Sector Healthcare, Genomics
Location Seoul, Korea, New York City, NY and Fukuoka, Japan (HQ)
Product Weight management, skin care
Co-Investors Softbank Ventures Korea, Samsung Ventures
Genoplan provides a genetic-code-based solution which helps people manage their weight. Their solution analyzes a person’s unique genetic characteristics and provides personalized weight management solution. Since Genoplan uses saliva to analyze genetic characteristics, its process is simpler, quicker and cheaper than existing solutions in the market. Genoplan also guarantees high accuracy by using equipment from Roche Diagnostics, one of the world's top medical device makers in this space. Genoplan graduated from Sparklabs accelerator program’s 5th class and recently raised $5 million from Softbank Ventures Korea, Samsung Ventures, and SparkLabs Global.
Year-End Update
37 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Payoff
www.payoff.com
Founded in 2009, Payoff is a technology-enabled, consumer-focused financial services company. Payoff builds transparent and empowering financial products with the customer’s best interest in mind. Payoff is backed by top tier venture capital firms and some of the most prominent individuals in financial services. Payoff wants to build a global consumer financial services brand, starting with a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) loan product designed to pay off higher interest rate credit card debt. Payoff enhances people’s intrinsic motivation to achieve financial goals through rewards and by illustrating the connection between short-term financial behaviors and long- term goals. They want to help more people sleep better with funded savings and lighter debt loads Payoff recently closed a $46M Series C from Anthemis Group, Tencent and others.
Sector FinTech
Location Costa Mesa, CA
Product Peer-to-Peer Lending, Financial Wellness
Co-Investors Mohamed El-Erian (Former PIMCO CEO), FirstMark Capital, Anthemis Group, Tencent
Year-End Update
38 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I KnowRe
www.knowre.com
KnowRe is an education technology company with an innovative cloud-based adaptive learning program for middle and high school math. KnowRe assesses a student’s strengths and weaknesses, algorithmically creates a personalized curriculum targeting that individual’s gaps in learning, and engages students through gamified learning and beautiful graphics. Through its Teacher Dashboard, KnowRe provides teachers with data on each student’s progress and highlights where an individual, or the entire class, may be struggling. KnowRe was named winner of “Best Instructional App” in the NYC Schools 2013 Gap App Challenge and was Grand Prize winner of Google’s Global K-Startup. It was also listed in Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies 2014 series as one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education.” KnowRe’s Series A round was $6.8 million led by SoftBank Ventures Korea, with participation from KTB Network Partners Fund, Partners Investment, and SparkLabs Global Ventures.
Sector Education Tech
Location New York City & Seoul
Product Adaptive Learning Platform
Co-Investors SoftBank Ventures
Year-End Update
Code Kingdoms is an online platform for kids to learn to code. They believe that kids should be given the opportunity to learn one of the essential creative skills for the 21st century - code literacy. They believe children should have the chance to be creative with code and use it to build things they love. Code Kingdoms built their code editor so that kids can ‘mod’ existing games, like MinecraftⓇ, build their own and program the BBC micro:bit using the best technology available. Their team of developers and teachers have seen success in schools with their first prototype game: 75,000 students and 1500 teachers have used Code Kingdoms. In partnership with the BBC, the company extended their reach in schools in 2016. One million 11-12 year olds in the UK received a small programmable computer, the BBC micro:bit, which can be coded using their code editor.
39 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Code Kingdoms
www.codekingdoms.com
Sector Education Tech
Location London, UK
Product Gamified Learning Platform
Co-Investors Initial Capital, Charles Mindenhall, Manoj Badale
Hugh Collins Co-founder
Co-founder Ross Targett
Year-End Update
40 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Castle
www.Castle.io
Castle is the easiest way to protect your users in web and mobile apps. By analyzing device, location and usage patterns we make sure the behavior is consistent for each user. Every user that comes to the site is scored according to Castle’s machine learning algorithms which look at unique device characteristics, keystrokes, site browsing history, and hundreds of other properties. The developer can then choose what to do with the information, whether they’d like to send a notification to the user, or immediately lock the account and force a password reset. Or if they want Castle to do all of that automatically for them. Castle was considered by TechCrunch as a “top 7 startups from Y Combinator Winter '16 Demo Day 1”. SparkLabs Global invested in their initial seed round prior to being accepted into Y Combinator.
Sector CyberSecurity
Location Malmö, Sweden & San Francisco
Product Security Software
Co-Investors Fredrik Nylander, Hampus Jakobsson, First Round Capital, Y Combinator, F-Prime
Johan Brissmyr Co-founder & CEO
Sebastian Wallin Co-founder & CTO
Year-End Update
41 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Memebox
www.memebox.com
Year-End Update
Launched in 2012, Memebox is an e-commerce beauty retailer launched in Seoul, Korea, and now headquartered in San Francisco, California. They seek to provide the best beauty experience by creating high-quality and effective services and products catered to all types of women, in collaboration with the hottest beauty icons who share their beauty tips and tricks using our products. Originally founded as a beauty subscription box company, Memebox evolved to be Korea’s first Fast Beauty Brand which utilizes technology and e-commerce platform data analytics to disrupt the traditional beauty industry. Memebox raised $800,000 from SparkLabs Global Ventures, Y Combinator and others. After graduating SparkLabs’ accelerator’s 1st class in Korea, Memebox became the first Korean company to be accepted into Y Combinator’s accelerator. Closed their Series A and Series B rounds totaling $29 million with Formation 8, Goodwater Capital, Pejman Mar Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and others, and a recent $66M Series C.
Sector E-Commerce, Beauty
Location San Francisco & Seoul, Korea
Product Subscription Box & E-Commerce
Co-Investors Y Combinator, Formation 8, Good Water
SparkLabs Global Team
Palo Alto Bernard Moon
London Frank Meehan
Tel Aviv Net Jacobsson
Mumbai HanJoo Lee
San Francisco Rob DeMillo Seoul Jimmy Kim
HanJoo Lee Eugene Kim
San Jose Peter Chang
Singapore Jay McCarthy
Hong Kong William Chu
42 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I
Year-End Update
Stockholm
43 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Net Jacobsson is a former Facebook executive,
entrepreneur and investor with vast international experience from
many pioneering companies. Net started out in Sweden Ericsson
Mobile Communications (now SonyEricsson) in 1998 with user
interface design but then moved into different start-up product,
business development and marketing roles. In Israel Net led
international business for Icq/AOL and then joined Chinese
browser company, Maxthon in 2005 as partner & SVP. Net put
Maxthon on the world map and brought in CRV and Google as
investors. Today, Maxthon has over 1 billion downloads. In 2007
Net joined Facebook as the head of International business
development with focus on new user acquisitions, new markets
and early M&A opportunities. In addition Net was responsible for
Facebook's mobile business and led a number of deals with mobile
operators and handset manufacturers. Since 2009 Net has been
involved an advisor and investor in Crowdstar, OpenFeint (sold
to GREE for $104M), Playhopper (Founder), P1
(Board of Directors), and Deeplink. Net has also served as an
advisor to King.com.
Frank Meehan is a Co-Founder & Partner at SparkLabs
Global Ventures and a Partner at SparkLabs, Asia’s premier
accelerator based in Seoul. Frank is also the Co-Founder and CEO
at SmartUp.io, a fast-growing Micro-Learning platform used by
startups, business schools and corporates. SmartUp has been
featured in “Best New Apps” by Apple UK and US in July and October
2015.
Frank was selected as part of the 2012 Wired UK Top 100 in tech,
and Vanity Fair's The Next Establishment list 2010. Led early
investments in DeepMind and Siri. Previously Frank was with
Horizons Ventures (HK), representing them on the boards of
Spotify, Siri, Summly, Affectiva, Bitcasa, Fixmo, DoubleTwist,
Ginger, Desti and Magisto. He also is the founder of Kuato Studios,
a leading educational games studio, and INQ Mobile which was an
early pioneer in mobile internet, winning Best Handset at Mobile
World Congress 2009.
Net Jacobsson
Co-founder & Partner
Frank Meehan
Co-founder & Partner
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
44 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Bernard Moon is a Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs
Global Ventures. He is also a Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs, a
startup accelerator in Korea. Previously, he was Co-founder & CEO
of Vidquik, a web conferencing & sales solutions platform. Bernard
was a Managing Director at the Lunsford Group, which is a private
investment firm with holdings in real estate, healthcare and other
industries. Bernard was Co-founder & VP of Business Development
of GoingOn Networks, a social media platform for companies,
and also led their product development where BusinessWeek
recognized them in their "Best of the Web" list. Previously,
Bernard was a Director at iRG, a leading boutique investment bank
in Asia, where he focused on TMT companies. He is a frequent
guest writer to various technology journals, such as
VentureBeat, Mashable, TechCrunch, and ReadWrite.
John Lee is Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Global
Ventures. He is also a Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs, a startup
accelerator in Korea. John is a co- founder & EVP of Corporate
Development and Strategy of Hostway. Hostway was acquired by
Littlejohn & Co in 2014. He served additional responsibilities as
CEO of Hostway Korea and Hostway India, where he is actively in
volved today. John and his fellow co- founders bootstrapped
Hostway into a top 5 web hosting company in the world with
over 700 employees. Hostway is a multinational web hosting
company headquartered in Chicago, and serves more than 600,000
customers worldwide. He is currently responsible for overall
corporate strategy, strategic alliances, and mergers and
acquisitions. Previously, he has held positions in every department
of the company, including leading global marketing and sales and
overall P&L for North America. John was born and raised in Korea
and immigrated to the United States at age 13. He holds a BA in
Biology from the University of Chicago.
Bernard Moon
Co-founder & Partner
John Lee
Co-founder & Partner
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
45 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Jimmy Kim is Co-founder and President of N3N, an IoT platform company and Cisco’s first global IoT investment. They
service numerous Fortune 500 companies and governments, such as
Samsung Electronics, POSCO, Port of Singapore, The North Face,
and Hyundai Motors. He previously served as N3N’s CEO. Previously
, Jimmy was CEO of Nexonova, a game development studio of
Nexon Corp that specializes in Social Network Games. He was also
Nexon’s first CFO for many years (Nexon, Market Cap: $6
billion). Jimmy also served as Executive Vice President of Nexon
Corp, and Head of Nexon’s Portal and Web Services. Nexon is one
of the most successful online gaming providers, with games such as
Maple Story, Dungeon and Fighter, Combat Arms, and Kart Rider.
Nexon services over 20 games across 60 countries to an
audience of 300 million. Jimmy was the founding investor and
active deal adviser of Studio Ex, an online gaming studio that was
acquired by Disney in 2012. Jimmy received his B.S. in Biomedical
Engineering from Northwestern University, and also a M.S. in
Biomedical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST).
Jay McCarthy has more than 22 years’ experience in Asia.
Currently, as a Managing Partner of Pacific Advisers, he has advised,
financed and invested in a range of deals in Asia across industries,
principally mining & energy, technology, luxury consumer and
property. In recent years, Jay has focused on originating
investment mandates for PA to invest its own capital in both
publicly listed and private companies. Such origination leads to
co-investment opportunities selectively with the hedge fund and
institutional investor communities. Jay has significant experience
with structuring deals and working with the relevant investor,
industry and service (legal and advisory) counterparts. Previously,
Jay served as an Executive Director in the Equity Division at
Morgan Stanley and worked in the Tokyo, HK, Beijing and
Singapore offices over a 16- year period. Within this time, Jay
served 2 years as Morgan Stanley’s “secondee” to China
International Capital Corporation, their JV Chinese Investment
Bank, as the Dealing Director in charge of the Equity Division in
Hong Kong and Beijing.
Jimmy Kim
Co-founder & Partner
Jay McCarthy
Co-founder & Partner
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
46 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Eugene Kim is currently a Partner of SparkLabs accelerator
and manages the day–to-day operations of the SparkLabs
accelerator program. Eugene previously served as a Director of
Global Business Development at Tencent Korea. He was
responsible for the sourcing of Korean game titles to China and
Tencent’s global publishing network, headed the global sales of
Tencent game titles, and he managed relationships with Tencent’s
global publishing partners. Prior to Tencent, Eugene was Director
of Business Development and Marketing at Podotree, an online
educational app developer in Korea. He was responsible for their
marketing and launch effort into the U.S. Previously, he was with
Vertigo Games as the Group Manager of the Overseas Business
Group. Eugene led all overseas sales and service support, and all
business development and game engine licensing activities. Eugene
was a Manager and Group Head of the Quality Assurance and
Localization Group for NHN USA.
Rob DeMillo is a Venture Partner at SparkLabs Global, and
CTO of StudioNow, a video production marketplace. Prior to
StudioNow, Rob was the CTO of Discovery Digital Networks which
he came through via Discovery's acquisition of Revision3.
DeMillo is also the Co-Founder of VidQuik, a customer relationship
management company. In 2013, DeMillo was named to Econtent’s
“Fabulous 15: The Top Digital Media Influencers” along with
Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. DeMillo was the Chief
Technology Officer & Co-founder of Transpera, where he was
responsible for the technology and operational aspects of the
company and serves as the technical liaison to mobile operators,
video content providers and ad agencies globally. Prior to
Transpera, DeMillo was the CTO for Third Screen Media, a mobile
advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007. DeMillo also
served as SVP of Mobile Technology at VeriSign, following the
acquisition by Verisign of m-Qube where DeMillo was SVP of
Engineering and managed over 1,000 engineers.
Eugene Kim
Principal
Rob DeMillo
Venture Partner
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
47 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Christine Aum is a Senior Associate at SparkLabs Global
Ventures. Christine was previously an equity analyst at Mirae
Asset Securities and has experience of analyzing Korea's two
biggest industries, Automobile and IT sectors. She was responsible
for forecasting the market and share prices of the companies that
are listed in Korea’s stock market, and published analyst reports,
which involves analyzing data and fundamentals of the relevant
industries and companies. She also managed relationships with IR
teams of various companies in Korea and investors in Seoul, Hong
Kong, New York and London. Christine graduated from the
University of Michigan with BA degree in Economics and Chinese
language. Christine loves traveling and collecting new electronic
gadgets. She also enjoys playing games, online shopping, exploring
new entertainment (movies/music/games) and reading blogs on
new electronic products in her free time to keep up with new
trends in culture and technology.
In 2016, Forbes named Christine as “30 Under 30 Asia in Finance
and Venture Capital Sector."
Peter Chang is a Venture Partner and technical adviser at
SparkLabs Global Ventures. Peter Chang is co-founder and CTO of
N3N, an IoT platform company and Cisco’s first global IoT
investment. He is currently leading the product development of
INNOWATCH which is a C4 level command and control center
solution. Existing customers include G20 Summit Seoul, Nuclear
Summit Seoul, Samsung, Hyundai, Posco, and LG. Peter has broad
experiences in business planning and technology development in
telecommunication, IT, CATV, physical security and automobile
industries. Previously, he was Co-founder and CTO of HeyAnita
Korea, an interactive voice portal service backed by Softbank.
Peter was also co-founder and CTO of ViewPlus, an video-on-
demand system for cable and satellite services. Peter received his
masters and bachelor degrees in computer and electrical
engineering from POSTECH and Brown University respectively.
Christine Aum
Senior Associate
Peter Chang
Venture Partner
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
48 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
William Chu is a Venture Partner at SparkLabs Global Ventures and the Managing Partner for SparkLabs FinTech in Hong Kong. He was Director of Lawman Group International, an apparel company with business in Greater China and the US. In 2014, William joined Zheng He Capital, a Hong Kong based private equity firm with a focus on fintech and healthcare, where he served as Executive Director. During this time, he spearheaded the firm’s lead investor role in the US$500MM A Round financing of Ping An Good Doctor, a Ping An Insurance subsidiary tasked with building an online health ecosystem in China. He was also actively involved in Zheng He’s role as lead investor in the US$500MM A Round and the subsequent US$1.2BN B Round of Lufax, another Ping An Insurance subsidiary that has become the world’s largest online financial asset exchange. Prior to Zheng He, William was President of Lawman Group where he ran the US and China Operations. In addition to the eponymous Lawman brand, William launched the apparel lines Petrol and Heart of Stone in the North American market, and built distribution across the US and Canada. William graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
William Chu
Venture Partner
›❯
Year-End Update
49 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
John Pleasants is EVP, Media Solutions of America at
Samsung Electronics. John Pleasants is a dynamic, high-tech
internet executive that has led public and private companies to
implicit market capitalization and investor gains of more than $5
billion over the past 15 years. As a CEO and President, Pleasants
has built and run start-ups as well as divisions of worldwide media
and Internet conglomerates. Pleasants served as Co-President of
Disney Interactive. Previously, Pleasants served as CEO of
Playdom and as President of Publishing and COO of Electronic
Arts.
Seong Ohm is SVP, Merchandise Business Services at Sam`s Club. Prior to this assignment, Seong was responsible for
leading the Entertainment SBU for Walmart US, which includes CE,
Media and Wireless and Photo businesses. She led the team to gain
market share in all categories and was awarded the Retailer of the
Year for excelling in TVs, Content and Digital. Seong spent 20
months in Japan as the SVP/GMM of General Merchandise and
Consumables business at Walmart Japan/ Seiyu for its 386
stores. Seong was named 15 Top Innovative Women in Business
by Pink Magazine and also top 100 MBAs by the Diversity
Magazine.
John Pleasants
Advisor
Seong Ohm
Advisor
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
50 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Greg Badros earned bachelors degrees in Mathematics and
Computer Science from Duke University. He started graduate
school and earned his masters and doctoral degrees in Computer
Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in
Seattle. Since then, he worked at Google for over six years where
he was a Sr. Director of Engineering. From mid 2009 to October
2013, Greg worked at Facebook where he was VP Engineering &
Products and led numerous teams including Ads, Search, Photos,
Messages, and Data Science. After his nearly 4.5 years at Facebook,
he founded Prepared Mind Innovations and now acts as an advisor
to several startup companies.
Jonathan Teo is a Founder and Managing Director at Binary
. Previously, Jonathan was a General Partner at General Catalyst
Partners and invested in both new and existing technology
businesses. His areas of special interest include: enterprise
software/infrastructure and social media. He currently advises or
sits on the boards of Chloe + Isabel, Couchsurfing, Nodejitsu, and
Snapchat (angel investor) Jonathan was a Principal at Benchmark
Capital where his investments include Twitter and Instagram.
Prior to Benchmark, he served as an Engineering PM in the Search
Properties and Enterprise Products groups at Google.
Greg Badros
Advisor
Jonathan Teo
Advisor
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
51 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Yoky Matsuoka is the former VP of Technology at Nest. Previously, she joined Google [x] as one of the three founding
members. She was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and
later at the University of Washington developing robotic devices for
rehabilitating and assisting the human body and brain. This work
led her to the MacArthur Award and being named one of “The
Brilliant Ten” by Popular Science Magazine and one of the “Top
10 Women to Watch in 2010” by Barbie. Recent (2015) honors
include "The Next List" by Wired Magazine and The Excellence in
Achievement Award from UC Berkeley.
Brian Behlendorf is Executive Director of Hyperledger at
the Linux Foundation. Previously, he was a Managing Director at
Mithril Capital Management. He has had stints in startups,
government, and international organizations, focusing the positive
impact that open technologies can have on society. He was a
primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular
web server software on the Internet, and started the Apache
Software Foundation. Previously, Brian was the CTO at the World
Economic Forum, where he rebooted a 30 year old legacy
environment with open software and open thinking. Brian is on
the Boards of Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
Mozilla Foundation, Benetech, and CollabNet.
Yoky Matsuoka
Advisor
Brian Behlendorf
Advisor
›❯ ›❯
Year-End Update
52 SparkLabs Global Ventures Fund I Team
Maurice Werdegars joined WTI in 2001 and is currently
President and CEO at the oldest & largest venture debt firm in
the U.S. He led investments in companies including Facebook,
Palantir, Youku, Quantcast, Invensense, 3PAR, IronPort, CV
Ingenuity, PEAK Surgical, Merced Systems, Oscar Health, StitchFix,
PlayStudios, and Volcano Technologies. His background includes
positions as a Venture Partner at Outlook Ventures, an early stage
venture firm, and Chief Investment Officer at MetaMarkets, an
online mutual fund company. Mr. Werdegar also founded and served
as CEO of Left at Albuquerque, a venture-backed chain of
restaurants.
Maurice Werdegars
Advisor
›❯
Year-End Update