Our team
Meet select team members
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Mario Aquino in
Mario has 20 years of investment, business building and entrepreneurial experience in big data and advanced analytics. He brings a wealth of experience in digital innovation, fintech, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. As FutureLabs Ventures' Managing Partner, he leverages his expertise to build scalable, next generation digital ventures and tech investments.
Prior to FutureLabs, Mario was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he founded McKinsey Solutions and McKinsey New Ventures in Asia-Pacific. While leading McKinsey New Ventures, Mario invested, built and scaled a portfolio of 20+ fintech, consumertech, healthtech, and energytech start-ups that have become global players in their fields. During his tenure, he also spearheaded the growth of McKinsey New Ventures' team to over 500 professionals in Asia-Pacific.
Mario was also the Managing Director and board member of risk analytics firm Moody's Analytics in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; where he was instrumental in making a number of transformative acquisitions and internal investments within financial technology and advanced analytics. During his nine years stint at Moody's Analytics, the firm grew into a US$1 billion revenue company.
Previously, Mario was a financial analyst at Lehman Brothers in London, focusing on high-tech and high-growth sectors.
Mario obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business and Finance at Milan's Bocconi University summa cum laude, before obtaining his MBA at University of Chicago Booth, Graduate School of Business in 1999.
Mario Founding Partner & CEO -
Usman Lodhi in
Ex-FoodPanda, ex-Rocket Internet, seasoned professional and serial intra/entrepreneur with 15+ years’ experience in digital consumer, telecommunications, software and infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia.
Business leader and entrepreneur with 15+ years experience in digital consumer, telecommunications, software and infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia.
More than 10 years leadership experience in establishing and growing new digital businesses (in corporate and start-up settings) across South-East Asia, leveraging technology, ground-breaking strategic partnerships and data-driven execution.
• SVP & Group Head of Indosat’s Digital Strategy & Investments, launching corporate ventures like PayPro and Eureka.ai (raised US$ 20M Series B in Feb 2020) • Director & Venture Partner.of an Indonesia-based award-winning tech-accelerator, IdeaBox • Managing Director of FoodPanda Indonesia (Rocket Internet, SEA) • Co-founder & Managing Director of a EasyTaxi Indonesia
Demonstrated success in delivering customer and shareholder value through product innovation, building high impact teams and unlocking new revenue streams.
Usman Venture Partner / EIR -
Gautam Barua in
Experienced Strategist, Venture Builder, Investor. Based in Silicon Valley.
Gautam is a seasoned investment, strategy, and corporate venture building entrepreneur and adviser, committed to addressing the world's most pressing needs.
Over his 20+ year long career, Gautam has amassed a track-record of building businesses, driving growth through organic & inorganic initiatives, and leading new business creation from planning to launch & go-to-market. A specific area of Gautam’s interest and focus has been identifying and pursuing new business opportunities in ESG and decarbonization, healthcare, and technology.
His successes stem from a combination of cross-functional capabilities - Product Management, venture financing, and team building – that he developed in roles at several of the world's most pioneering organizations.
His career profile include:
• Leadership roles at Noble.ai and Zymergen, respectively a Silicon Valley Start-up pioneering the creation of science-based AI tools for research & innovation; and a Pre-IPO synthetic biology firm, which secured $800M+ in funding. • Co-Founder and Member of the Board, California BioEnergy. • Advisor to McKinsey Ventures, with a focus on establishing a strong network of VC and start-up relationships in Silicon Valley – as well as help grow the expanding group of McKinsey Ventures’ portfolio companies. • Principal at Medley Capital, a firm Gautam helped scale to $1.2 billion in senior lending to middle-market private companies. Focused on cleantech and sustainability investment opportunities. • Senior Manager & Product Lead at AOL and Zyng Networks • Management Consultant at McKinsey Gautam is a Harvard Business School grad (1997) with distinction.
gautam Venture Partner -
Poyan Rajamand in
Experienced Founder & Venture Builder with a demonstrated history of growing technology companies in sustainability across Asia.
Passionate about building solutions that create measurable value for clients .in energy efficiency, digital, telco and software sectors in Europe & Asia.
More than a decade of leadership experience (as Co-founder/CEO) in launching new digital businesses and taking them to market leading positions across Southeast Asia (in both start-up and corporate settings).
Focused on product innovation, building high impact teams and unlocking new revenue streams. Mentor and advisor to several regional start-ups.
• CEO & Founder, one of the largest clean tech ventures in SEA • Country Brand Manager, major food FMCG • Expert in sustainability, decarbonization, energy efficiency & circular business models • Former Consultant, McKinsey & Company • Board member & strategic Advisor to selected tech venture
Poyan holds a MBA from Stanford University
Poyan Venture Partner -
Arun Poojari in
The Techno-Optimist Unlocking the Power of Data & AI to Solve Complex Challenges.
Over the last 20 years, Arun has established three Global businesses in APAC, scaled revenue from 0 to 10 Mn+, and managed USD 100 Mn+ P & L. He has set up multiple global offices, structured Joint Ventures, and hired and mentored technical and business talent globally.
He has leveraged the power of Data & AI to build businesses in Advance Analytics, Climate-tech, Ad-Tech & Sustainability.
• Executive team member at SparkBeyond (AI-Powered ideation machine and equity investment by McKinsey Consulting) built a multimillion ARR portfolio, worked on transformation streams across multiple industries, incubated ventures with AI at its core, and solved social impact problems. • Built Asia’s first Telecom operated Mobile advertising exchange at Amobee (Acquired by SingTel) • Executive team member at Riskthinking.AI (Climate Risk Data and equity investment by Bloomberg) • At Microsoft, he was involved with scaling Digital revenue and transitioning sales from Yahoo to in-house/partners • Advisor / Investor in digital dreamers in Singapore and the Israel tech ecosystem • Guest faculty at several academic institutes in Singapore. Board member for University of Bath - APAC chapter • Ex Board Member and Lifelong volunteer at APSN (Association for Persons with Special Needs)
Arun holds an EMBA degree from INSEAD, Certificate in Machine Learning from MIT & Internet Marketing and Strategies from Harvard.
arun Venture Partner -
Cesare Tagliaferri in
20 years of experience in technology & financial services. Founded and managed a startup, run teams of quants at ANZ, built their new Global Markets Pricing and Risk Management Platform
Expert in enterprise platforms & software development, cyber-security, UX, UI, and AI automation
Started programming computers in primary school and never stopped.
Strong experience also in Blockchain and Data Science
• CTO, distributed network analytics startup • Led development of trading system for Coal & Iron Ore for international Bank • Director & co-Founder, early-stage venture -- built software platform: design, dev, UX on web and mobile • Director, Calypso Technology APAC • Head of Central Quant Team, ANZ Bank • Regional Head of CDS, Murex APAC
Cesare holds a INSEAD, MBA; Supélec Grande École, Automation & Computer Science.
Cesare Venture Partner-Tech -
Giuseppe Manai in
Giuseppe has over fifteen years of experience and is skilled in executing big data strategies in start-ups, governments and corporations. As a Venture Founder at FutureLabs Ventures, he is driven by a passion to create businesses underpinned by social values, which he does by seeking the confluence between science and products.
He is also one of the co-founders of the ACM SIGKDD chapter in Singapore. A strong advocate in providing professional advice to tech teams who are driven to excel, Giuseppe focuses on building products that leverage techniques such as optimisation, time series analysis and forecasting, trajectory data mining, anomaly detection, network analytics, collaborative filtering, supervised and unsupervised learning, nonlinear dynamics, chaos theory and numerical simulations.
Prior to joining FutureLabs, Giuseppe was the Data Science and Product Director at Dataspark, a spin-off of Singaporean telco firm Singtel that focuses on mobility intelligence and other telco products. He also worked at various data science roles at organisations such as SAS and the Irish Revenue Authority.
Giuseppe holds a PhD in Physics from Trinity College Dublin. There, he specialised in experimental and numerical studies in nanotechnology and material science, working on low temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy.
Giuseppe Venture Founder -
Ananda Motte Falisse in
Entrepreneur with extensive experience in establishing and growing commodities & fintech businesses across SEA. Managed all aspects including sales, marketing, technology, logistics, and financial arbitrage to create strong impact and value. 10+ years track record in SEA – expertise in identifying opportunities in physical trading, e-commerce, SME financing.
• Co-Founder & CTO of GoSwiff, (exited to Payswiff) • Managing Director & Founder, PnD – boutique commodity trading house connecting UTZ cooperatives in coffee to mid sized coffee roasters in Europe. • Managing Director & Founder Mount Nathan Trading – boutique commodity and macro hedge fund trading physical (coffee, cassava, rice, MGO, cocoa beans) and interest rate/exchange rate financial arbitrage. • Director Vybes – Responsible for Product and Sales Strategy and execution for Influencer Commerce company funded by Sequoia
Ananda holds an MBA from INSEAD and MSc Aerospace Engineering
ananda Venture Founder -
Simas Ceckauskas in
Simas has scaled startups and founded and sold his own company. He has experienced both the corporate and the start-up world and today finds himself most effective somewhere in the middle, as a corporate venture builder.
He has built new ventures for consulting firms PwC and BCG, as well as leading corporates such as ING, Standard Chartered, and Maxis Telecom. He specializes in B2B SaaS and multisided platform business models.
Prior to becoming a Director at FutureLabs, Simas served as the Chief Commercial Officer of a new B2B SaaS venture at the Boston Consulting Group.
With citizenships in the United States, European Union, and Australia, and having lived in seven countries, Simas views himself as a global citizen. He has a deep appreciation for the perspectives that different cultures bring and looks for the best ideas globally to build new ventures.
Simas holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Master in Finance from ESADE, a Master in International Management from the University of Sydney, and two bachelor degrees from Boston University.
simas Venture Director -
Chris Morris in
An extremely versatile Entrepreneur and Consultant with over 20 years’ experience in Establishing and Mentoring Start-Ups, Business Transformation and Programme Management. As a Consultant and Advisor, Chris has had extensive experience of successfully managing transformational and digital innovation in several industry sectors, driving growth and building effective teams.
• Former Co-founder & COO of MiyaHealth - A technology start-up targeting the health insurance space, which has raised $9 million SGD led by ST Engineering Ventures and prominent Healthcare Angel investors • Consulting Director at Frost & Sullivan, where he established a successful APAC Business Transformation Practice from the ground up, to deliver projects across key industry verticals (Healthcare, Industrial, Public Sector) • Advisory board member for MiyaHealth and Auspicious (an early-stage Blockchain start-up). Mentor for Antler and SOSV/Orbit startups
Chris holds an MEng (Hons) Chemical & Process Engineering from the University of Exeter.
chris Venture Director -
Kari Tamura Chua in
Devoted to building products that support organisations in innovating and creating value for their markets, customers and ecosystem through a focus on platform, business model scalability and customer success.
With over 10 years of experience across multiple domains, B2B SaaS and DaaS products, Kari has helped Fortune 500s, SMEs and governments in their sustainability digitalisation journeys, scaling products for high growth, change management initiatives and organisational design.
• Global Head of Product, TSC.ai • Founder, Sama Sama • Management Consultant, Hay Group | Korn Ferry • Derivatives Trader, Amerex Petroleum • Advisor and mentor to numerous start ups, social enterprises and non-profits
Kari holds a Bachelors Degree in Business (Marketing), with further education in Product Strategy and Business Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Kari Product Lead -
Sharmistha Gan Chowdhury in
Sharmistha has over 5 years of experience in corporate finance, fundraising, strategy and stakeholder management. She has worked in Berlin, Delhi and London with start-ups, scale-ups and conglomerates in banking, healthcare, analytics, technology, logistics, etc.
She has experience managing teams to lead international expansions and to onboard business partners. Additionally, she has managed three successful fundraising rounds, with the last one stamping the company’s Unicorn status. She has also led cross-functional teams to set KPIs, strategize roadmaps, and build internal company forecasts.
Her work experience includes:
• Team Lead, Investments – Grover, the largest rental tech scale-up in Europe with a Unicorn status • Manager, Strategy – Unofin, a healthcare focused fintech • Senior Analyst, Financial Advisory - Deloitte
Sharmistha holds an MBA from INSEAD (France), an MSc Finance from Bayes Business School (London) and a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from Delhi University.
Sharmistha Senior Venture Architect -
Sheetal Khullar in
Results-driven business strategist and sustainability leader with a strong background in business development and a passion for building ventures that create shared value and deliver impact.
With more than a decade of leadership experience in developing sustainability solutions for businesses in the decarbonization, food tech, renewables, e-commerce, telco and social sectors, Sheetal brings extensive experience in ESG Policy & Reporting, Sustainable Value Chains and Carbon Markets.
• Strategy & GTM Head, Sustainability focused start up SE Asia • Fund Raising Lead for E-learning focused venture SE Asia • Global Sustainability Advocate, Impact Consulting • Former President, Tabitha Foundation • Advisor to several ventures and scale ups
Sheetal holds an MBA from Institute of Management Studies, India with further education in sustainability strategy and management from Harvard Business School and Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.
Sheetal Venture Architect - Sustainability -
Gerald Chow in
Gerald has been involved in various organisations within the startup ecosystem from incubators to accelerators to VCs. He has experience in innovation programme management, technology scouting and entrepreneurship development across both public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Futurelabs Ventures, Gerald was a senior consultant at ACE, where he led innovation consulting projects for MNCs and governments in the Southeast Asia region and across multiple industries. He has also worked on mentoring programmes, government grant applications and market access trips for startups across all stages.
Gerald graduated with a Bachelor of Science + USP from the National University of Singapore and completed the NUS Overseas College programme where he was attached to SGInnovate and played a pioneering role in Singapore’s corporate co-innovation landscape. He ran the first two TAG.PASS accelerator and the methodology designed were used by partners such as KPMG, Cisco, IBM, NTUC Income and DBS.
Gerald Senior Venture Analyst -
Clarissa Tan in
Clarissa has 5 years of experience in Fintech/Digital/Growth across both large enterprises and fast-growing start-ups. Experienced in conducting landscape scans to identify pain points and new venture opportunities, putting together actionable product strategy, business models and business plans. Worked in close partnerships with startups, local enterprises and MNCs.
• Consultant, PwC Venture Hub • Account Manager, Fintech/Digital, EDB • Senior Associate, Strategy & Ops, EDB • Project Officer, Enterprise Singapore
Clarissa graduated from NUS with a Bachelors in Social Science (Political).
Clarissa Venture Architect -
Jackson Lee in
Having experience in the VC ecosystem early on, Jackson has interest in different verticals and sectors within the startup space. He joined FutureLabs as a Venture Analyst in 2021 with the goal of providing support in the venture building process.
He was an Investment Analyst prior, with focus in the growth stages in the Southeast Asian region. Carrying out the investment process from sourcing to memos curation.
Jackson holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics with a major in International Trade and Finance from the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
Jackson Venture Analyst -
Christine Antonio in
Christine's passion for the ever-evolving technology start-up space led her to join FutureLabs Ventures as a Venture Analyst in 2022. Using technology in different ways to revolutionise the status quo and solve challenges around the world drives her.
In her previous role, Christine was part of the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC). She joined the team working on the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) as a technology management executive where she dealt with start-ups in various sectors, from healthcare to fintech and beyond. After having had the unique opportunity to obtain a bird's eye view of the technology and innovation scene in Malaysia, Christine decided to pursue her interest in this exciting space with a more hands-on role in venture building.
Christine graduated from Taylors University in Malaysia with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. In her spare time, Christine enjoys sports and the outdoors where she finds clarity and inspiration.
Christine Venture Analyst -
Joanne Tham in
Joanne has over 15 years of experience in both corporate sector and startup, As an Office Manager in FutureLabs Ventures, she is responsible for overseeing the administration and operations initiatives, including streamline areas of Finance, Marketing and Human Resource.
• Operations & Office Manager, FutureLabs Ventures • Executive Assistant, Westpac Institutional Bank • Office Manager, Natixis Asset Management • Marketing Assistant, Capital Group
Joanne graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor's degree in Business (Banking & Finance).
Joanne Office Manager