Panelist: Inside The Deal Room: A Dialogue on Early & Late-Stage Investing in SEA

What was covered

Jeremy was a panelist at “Inside The Deal Room: A Dialogue on Early & Late-Stage Investing in SEA”, an investor evening hosted by NonPublic with Orvel and Aspire at 27 Ann Siang Road, Singapore on 17 March 2025. He sat alongside Milan Reinartz of NonPublic and Rishab Malik of Jungle Ventures, moderated by Eric Koh of NonPublic and GenCap.

Key points

• Date, time and venue: 17 March 2025 (Monday), 6:30–8:30pm, with registration from 6:00pm, at 27 Ann Siang Road, Singapore
• Panelists: Milan Reinartz (CEO and co-founder, NonPublic; co-founder, Orvel Ventures), Rishab Malik (Partner, Jungle Ventures) and Jeremy Au (co-founder and partner, Orvel Ventures)
• Moderator: Eric Koh (COO, NonPublic; CEO and co-founder, GenCap)
• Programme: introductions from NonPublic, Orvel, Jungle Ventures and Aspire (6:30pm), a panel discussion (7:00–7:45pm), then networking
• What first drew you to investing in SEA, how has your approach evolved, and what has been the most surprising lesson about the region?
• How do you evaluate early-stage versus late-stage deals, and what makes an opportunity stand out?
• SEA is known for rapid market shifts: how do you approach risk assessment in such a fluid environment?
• Beyond numbers, what makes a founder stand out during the investment process?
• SEA has seen strong growth, but fund returns (DPI) remain a challenge: is that a short-term issue or a deeper structural factor?
• Recent governance issues, such as those seen with eFishery and Fashion Valet, have raised concerns about transparency and accountability: how do you assess governance risks when investing?
• Looking ahead, what excites you most about investing in SEA, and what is one piece of advice for founders navigating this ecosystem?