Derek Kwik

Born and educated in Hong Kong, Derek is an early “returnee” to Asia with 25+ years of APAC market entry experience. Since the 90s, his early work in venture capital makes him one of the first investors involved with Asia based startups. Starting with first gen internet companies, he has reviewed 15,000+ business plans. He was part of a core team that managed funds for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Singapore Govt Investment Corp (GIC), Sun Microsystems, Mitsui, Fujitsu, NTT Docomo and PCCW. As one of the most respected tech community leaders, he is involved with nearly every accelerator/co-working space in HK. Since 2004, Derek is the Managing Partner of BraveSoldier Venture Capital. With a background in i-banking, direct investment and mgmt consulting, his fundraising experience includes seed, family office, Series A and IPOs. He was the CEO of a Chinese mobile payments company and credited for “leading from the front” from seed round to commercial responsibilities to investor exit. With 500+ “day trips” to the Greater Bay, Derek has direct manufacturing involvement in telecoms, robotics, wearables and pc peripherals. Derek is an author of two books, university lecturer, US-Global Innovation Fellow, TEDx speaker, current board member and former Trustee/co-Chairman of the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (SPCA), board member of Junior Achievement HK, advisor to Hanson Robotics, mgmt committee of New World Group’s – Eureka Nova, advisor to the Open University of Hong Kong and mentor/advisor to start-ups. He is an extreme multi-day ultra-marathoner and PADI Dive Master.