Singapore's Wavemaker names new general partner

Hwang (pictured) has more than 10 years of experience with the likes of Facebook, Google, and Stripe. He will join Wavemaker’s investment committee and work closely with Paul Santos, the managing partner, in growing the organisation.

Hwang started his career in Silicon Valley and moved to Singapore in 2012 as part of Facebook’s founding team in Asia. He served as managing director of the small and medium business unit, then as director of business integrity for Asia Pacific.

In the latter role, Hwang was responsible for connections between millions of businesses and Facebook’s users, acting as site lead for global operations and executive sponsor for diversity. He joined Stripe in 2020, leading risk partnerships and strategy for Asia Pacific.

Hwang has personally invested in more than 60 start-ups, special purpose vehicles, and funds. He has also spent the past year coaching founders – including some from Wavemaker’s portfolio – on go-to-market strategies and scaling teams.

“What attracted me most to Wavemaker were the testimonials from start-up founders about how Wavemaker bet on them when nobody else would, and built a partnership based on curiosity and trust rather than a scripted playbook,” Hwang said in a statement

Wavemaker was founded as a US-based firm in 2003 and began investing in Southeast Asia in 2012. Philippines-based technology company Xurpas acquired Wavemaker’s US operations in 2019, leaving the Southeast Asia business as an independent entity.

To date, the Singapore-based firm has backed more than 180 companies, primarily in enterprise, deep tech, and sustainability, and realised 24 exits valued at around USD 800m. It has USD 300m in assets under management across four funds in the region, including an impact fund that reached a first close of USD 13m earlier this month against an overall target of USD 25m.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
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• Singapore
• Wavemaker Partners
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