Fireside Chat with David Su and Michael Seibel, moderated by Paul Santos, Manager Partner of Wavemaker Partners.

Michael Seibel is a full-time partner and CEO of Y Combinator, which Fast Company has called “the world’s most powerful start-up incubator”. Y Combinator’s accelerator program has graduated startups such as AirBnB, Dropbox and Reddit. Mr. Seibel graduated from Yale University with a degree in political science.

David Su is the Founding Managing Partner of Matrix Partners China, and has led investments into many leading startups, including Baidu and Didi Chuxing. Prior to his venture capital career, Mr. Su worked at Lotus for seven years, building its business in China from the ground up. He graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Paul Santos is Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners, which has invested in more than 150 Internet, Mobile and Enterprise technology startups since 2003. Aside from co-founding 6 companies across different industries, Mr. Santos has backed numerous startups, ranging from Luxola to Gushcloud. Mr. Santos graduated with a B.S. in Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University.

Grand Finals

This year, the competition attracted a record of 550 submissions from over 300 universities in 68 countries, surpassing the last edition of 184 entries from 140 universities. This year’s competition also saw a record number of organisations, judges and mentors supporting the event.

36 teams were shortlisted based on merit to participate as finalists in an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore during the competition week of 11 September. The finalists include teams from various leading universities in Asia, Europe and the US. A highlight of the competition was the week-long programme with experienced mentors and industry partners, which allowed the finalists to gain an insight into Singapore’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.