- 5 hours ago
The startup landscape is now at a new crossroads. The era of unchecked growth is fading, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how businesses are built, and investors are increasingly prioritising profitability and resilience over billion-dollar valuations. To understand where Asia’s startup ecosystem is heading amid this wave of change, we spoke with Thomas G. Tsao, Co-Founder of Gobi Partners—one of the region’s leading venture capital firms. With experience investing in hundreds of startups across Asia, he shares insights on the future of AI, emerging opportunities in ASEAN, and the qualities that distinguish successful entrepreneurs in an increasingly challenging economic environment.
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00:01Ok, di AMNC 2000.6 ini kita bercakap soal bagaimana inovasi bergerak ke hadapan dan salah satu elemen paling penting
00:08dalam soal inovasi adalah pelaburan itu sendiri.
00:10Ini setiasa menjadi topik yang hangat dibincangkan dari masa ke masa oleh penggiat dalam industri tersebut, startup juga termasuk dan
00:17juga pelabur itu sendiri.
00:18Untuk berongkai bagaimana trend ini berubah seiring dengan perubahan teknologi dan juga perubahan landscape.
00:24Sekarang kami bersama dengan Thomas Tau, iaitu ia merupakan venture capital investor dan juga co-founder of Kobe Partners.
00:30Tom, Thomas, thank you so much for joining us.
00:33Should I call you Tom or Thomas?
00:34Call me Tom now, Steve.
00:35Tom, because he said call him Tom if you are a friend.
00:38So we are friend Tom.
00:39We're friends now.
00:40Tom, thank you so much for joining us at Dahlian China.
00:43So for the past two decades, basically, you know, much of the venture capital conversation revolves around Silicon Valley and
00:50also China.
00:51But today we've seen, you know, the rise of new innovation corridors across Southeast Asia, for instance.
00:57So and also not just Southeast Asia, in the Gulf region and also India, for instance, right?
01:02So where do you think the next decades, you know, most important startup ecosystem will emerge?
01:08Well, I think that's a great question.
01:09And at Gobi, we've always been big believers in what we call distributed innovation.
01:14We think what happened in Silicon Valley, fantastic.
01:18What's going on in China, amazing.
01:20The world needs more of that everywhere.
01:23And at Gobi, our strategy is to try to build out a network, right, and support more ecosystems to innovate
01:31and solve the world's problems, right?
01:33That's why I've been in KL for 11 years now, right?
01:37So, you know, we're based in Ilham.
01:39We were just talking about that.
01:40Yes.
01:40And at Gobi, we've been really, I think, helping build out.
01:43At the time, there was a vision to build out Malaysia's ecosystem.
01:47And we played a small role.
01:49One of our companies who are very fortunate was Skychip that just listed.
01:53And so, again, that's a great example of how a country like Malaysia, Penang, and the semiconductor industry in Malaysia
02:00is playing such a vital role in the entire global ecosystem.
02:05And also with AI, right?
02:07Because AI is one of the main topics being discussed here.
02:10So, you know, AI is, of course, dramatically reducing the cost of building companies.
02:15So, in your point of view, does this, you know, fundamentally change how venture capitalists evaluate startups?
02:22Oh, yeah, absolutely.
02:23I think what AI has done now is bring down the cost, right, of creating a company.
02:31You're seeing the rise of what we call solopreneurs, solo entrepreneurs, creating companies just with one person, you know, going
02:39leaner.
02:40But at the same time, you need that support system and you need very experienced kind of a support system
02:46to help those entrepreneurs grow because the problems now are getting more difficult, right?
02:51Especially here at Summer Davos.
02:54I mean, I'm just amazed by the opportunities, but at the same time, very cognizant that there is a cost
03:00to all this.
03:01And I think all of us here are trying to figure out, right, to make sure that there are no
03:04bottlenecks and that the ecological price that we have to pay is commensurate, right, with the rewards that are coming
03:11from all these opportunities.
03:12Right. And Gobi, you know, have, you know, invested extensively both in China and also Southeast Asia, I believe.
03:20So, how do you see with the, you know, durable tensions and supply chain alignment, how do you see between
03:26these two innovation ecosystems evolving amid all this challenging?
03:30Between China and Southeast Asia?
03:31Yes.
03:32I think you're seeing growing linkages.
03:33And I think, again, what's really going on now from a global and macro standpoint is the importance of Southeast
03:41Asia.
03:42And we're seeing that.
03:43And I think within Southeast Asia, Malaysia is perfectly positioned.
03:48Again, I think due to, I think, a very stable government now that has been very visionary implementing policies.
03:55And I think it's attracting in a lot of foreign investment.
03:59And, again, I think, again, the entrepreneurs in Malaysia can compete with the best entrepreneurs anywhere in the world.
04:05And we're seeing that.
04:07And so, again, we got companies like a Skychip, right, like a Carson.
04:12that are coming.
04:13We have another company called CompAsia.
04:14And the first two companies, Carson and CompAsia, are in the circular economy.
04:19And this is a very, very important theme that's coming out of Dalian this year.
04:25And you've spent 11 years in Malaysia.
04:28And, of course, you've spent over a decade helping build Malaysia's venture ecosystem, if I may say so.
04:34So what is the biggest misconception you think that international investors still have about Malaysia?
04:40Well, I think, you know, when I first, you know, when I first came out to Southeast Asia from Shanghai
04:4611 years ago,
04:47everybody was like, wait, why would you go to Southeast Asia?
04:51And the second question I always got was, hey, Tom, you came to Southeast Asia, why not Singapore?
04:56And, look, I love Singapore, but at the time we already had a partner in Singapore.
05:00Yes.
05:00And so I think one of the things that's changing is, again, in the old days,
05:06there was a sense that maybe Malaysia was not the place to be.
05:10But I think now, as you see what's going on, the level of entrepreneurial activity,
05:16Malaysia's strategic positioning within not only the Southeast Asia innovation ecosystem,
05:21but more broadly in this global now ecosystem, right, in AI,
05:26where those semiconductor, that semiconductor supply chain is so strategic.
05:31You know, Malaysia's now the place to be.
05:34And so I think that's very exciting.
05:37Again, I think when I came out there back in 2015, a lot of my friends were laughing.
05:41A lot of the friends I see here now at Summer Davos, they were like,
05:44you know, maybe, Tom, you were a bit too early.
05:46But now, wow.
05:48And so, again, I think as an investor at Gobi, what we try to do is you've got to take
05:52that long-term view.
05:53And you have to be consistent, and you have to show commitment and conviction, and you have to have a
06:01belief.
06:01Yeah.
06:01So we believed that there was going to be a growing integration between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia.
06:08Yeah.
06:08Right?
06:09We called that our crouching panda, a hidden top here strategy, right?
06:15The panda and the top here, you know, coming, interacting, playing together, and it's happening.
06:21All right.
06:21What about Takwa Tech?
06:23This is very interesting because, you know, you've been building a Gobi's Takwa Tech investment practice,
06:30you know, targeting solutions for Muslim communities.
06:32So beyond, you know, Islamic finance, where do you see the largest untapped opportunities in the Muslim digital economy?
06:40Oh, wow.
06:40I think the biggest opportunity right now, and again, and thank you for bringing it up, Takwa Tech,
06:44because, you know, when I look back to when Gobi was set up back in 2002, you know, we saw
06:49the opportunity in China, right?
06:51Like, wow, one point at the time, 1.1 billion people, and now when I look at an opportunity,
06:55there's a bigger opportunity in China than in 2002.
06:59That's Takwa Tech, because you're now looking at a potential market of 2 billion global Muslim consumers.
07:06Wow.
07:07Right?
07:08And so what we see as an opportunity is whoever can create a super app, a community for the global
07:16Muslim community,
07:18that's going to be huge.
07:19And we've already made an investment.
07:20It's a company called Muslim Pro.
07:23Yes.
07:23Yeah.
07:24An avid user of Muslim Pro.
07:25There you go.
07:26And so, you know, so when you said there's obviously, you know, FinTech, Islamic FinTech,
07:31but, again, what Muslim Pro is doing, and you've already used the platform,
07:35is to take a lot of those important apps for the global Muslim community
07:42and bring that onto one platform.
07:44Super app.
07:44Yep.
07:45A super app for the global ummah.
07:47Yeah.
07:47Can you imagine that?
07:48Yes.
07:49All right.
07:50Tom, you know, many founders today are building, you know, businesses in the world
07:55that is becoming more fragmented geopolitically, economically, also technologically, in a sense.
08:00Yeah.
08:00So what advice do you give entrepreneurs, especially in trying to scale globally
08:06in an increasingly multipolar home?
08:09Yeah, again, I think the world right now is a little bit bifurcated.
08:14You know, there's kind of the government to government, and, you know, there are policies.
08:19I mean, you know, Astro does a great job reporting the headlines, and it can seem kind of confusing.
08:23I think for entrepreneurs, though, is the people-to-people connections
08:28are still there.
08:31People still want to interact and work together.
08:33I think as an entrepreneur, you have to look at global opportunities, and thinking
08:39beyond your market is intentional.
08:42It's so easy right now in certain economies where people are just like, hey, I want to
08:45just focus on one.
08:47I don't want to play with other, you know, countries, et cetera.
08:50That's happening at a government-to-government level, and I get that.
08:54But I think for entrepreneurs who are creating solutions that can scale, right, you've got
08:59to think global.
08:59And really, the theme of this conference is innovating, you know, at scale, right?
09:05So if you want to do that, it's going to take conferences like this, right, what the World
09:09Economic Forum is doing, bringing people together.
09:12And the entrepreneurs want to work with everybody because if their solution is good enough, you
09:17know, it's not my country or your country.
09:19It's only one planet.
09:21It's one Earth when we all live here.
09:24My final question, because you've backed startups through multiple crisis, the dot-com
09:30era, the global financial crisis, COVID-19.
09:33Oh, yeah.
09:34Yeah, and to this AI disruption.
09:36So this is not implying, you know, how old you are.
09:38This is telling the audience, you know, your expertise level in that sense.
09:42Experience.
09:42Experience.
09:43Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:44So looking back, what is the most single, the most, you know, single most important lessons
09:49you've learned about basically, you know, identifying founders who can strive through
09:54uncertainty?
09:55You know, it's really a conviction, you know, and I think you're looking for entrepreneurs
10:02because we've seen, look, you know, Gobi's average holding period, you know, is like seven
10:07and a half years, you know, we now have a portfolio of close to 500 startups.
10:12Being an entrepreneur is hard, right?
10:15And everybody, you know, everybody talks long-term, but very few people actually act
10:20long-term.
10:22And the one thing that I've learned is, like you were saying, Najib, thank you for pointing
10:25it out, we've seen a lot of cycles.
10:28So Gobi, you know, we're about to enter our 25th, about to celebrate our 25th anniversary
10:33next year, and you're all welcome.
10:34Thank you.
10:36You know, 25 years sounds like a long time, but in VC world, it's only two and a half
10:40cycles.
10:41Each cycle is 10 years.
10:42So while it sounds like a lot of years, when we compare ourselves to other Silicon
10:46Valley guys, they've been around for maybe four, five cycles, right?
10:51And you're looking for entrepreneurs that can really, you know, persist, be tenacious,
10:59and really work through and be committed through the ups and downs of that cycle.
11:04So that's what's key.
11:05Tom, thank you so much for joining us.
11:07I really appreciate this quite difficult to get Tom in Dalian, China.
11:11I really appreciate your time.
11:12I guess I'll see you in Malaysia.
11:13Absolutely.
11:14All right.
11:14Thank you so much, Tom.
11:15Good, good, good.
11:15Okay, itu berkaitan dengan pelaburan.
11:18Aspek ini sangat penting untuk memajukan lagi inovasi dan juga dalam keadaan sekarang ini
11:23penuh cabaran apa lagi yang dinilai oleh pelabur-pelabur dalam meletakkan wang mereka,
11:28mendanam modal mereka untuk startup kita dalam sektor inovasi.
11:35Terima kasih.
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