Trained as an aerospace and spent the early career working as a product engineer at multinationals including Azbil Corp (Yamatake) in Tokyo, focusing on operational efficiencies and performance capabilities.
Always curious and fascinated by the fast-changing and innovative world, later pursued a start-up venture in online sportswear customisation — a decision that kickstarted the entrepreneurship journey. Then co-founded Healthy Chicken, one of Hong Kong's earliest health concept restaurants.
As a serial entrepreneur with multi-sector experience in automotive, apparel and consumer tech, understood the importance of determination and the ability to stay agile and adapt. The knowledge garnered from trial and error granted insight into a key factor for successful start-up companies — funding.
Now leading the overall sales, marketing and business strategy at Choco Up, aspiring to bring this innovative funding solution to the Asia Pacific.
Trained as an engineer but started his career in investment banking in NYC. Worked in leveraged finance and executed USD 26 billion+ of leveraged loan and high yield bond offerings. Also managed a portfolio of private equity and real estate assets of USD 4 billion+. Experienced in credit analysis, mergers & acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, portfolio management and capital markets.
A tech enthusiast, participated in Ethereum's early investment and community building, as well as pre-IPO investments such as SpaceX, Airbnb, Coupang and Lyft.
CFA Charterholder and Certified FRM (Financial Risk Manager).
Having a background in finance, Lewis is a serial entrepreneur with a passion to build revolutionary tech products. He co-founded two tech startups and made an exit. Among them is an AI-powered marketing SaaS business that is leading in HK & Taiwan, while the other is an eCommerce marketplace App that ranked No.1 on AppStore.
Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Lewis led a cross-border team on IP strategy for a Beijing-based pre-IPO mobile game startup at its Tokyo office. He also worked in Structured Finance for a top 10 MNC in Tokyo where he structured M&A and project finance deals in Energy & Solar Power.
Lewis holds a bachelor degree in Risk Management and Finance, and a MSc in Finance.
Kitti held senior positions at one of the largest commercial banks in SE Asia including the head of its Beijing, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Hanoi branches. Having witnessed the amazing growth of China’s tech startups in the past few years, he wanted to get first-hand experience in the startup ecosystem. He later joined a new venture capital firm and helped to set up its first fund. He was actively involved in deal sourcing and has vetted hundreds of deals from China, HK, SE Asia and other countries over the past two years.
Kitti is also a CFA Charterholder.
K has vast experience in banking and FinTech startup, where she specialized in digital banking, marketing, business development and FinTech. Prior to her Choco Up journey, K led the Digital Banking department of a Hong Kong bank. Leveraging her exposure and experience, K envisions her contribution to support startups and businesses to grow and scale. K graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Computer Science and Information Systems.
Prior to joining Choco Up, Hui Qing was a financial auditor at KPMG where she specialised in fund management audits. She has also led teams to perform financial audits for Groups of Companies which have been successfully listed on the HKSE and SGX.
Leveraging on her exposure to various successful businesses, HuiQing envisions helping startups and small businesses to grow through strategic fundraising to reach their desired exit goal.
Ryan has over 15 years of broad finance experience across investments, origination, relationship management, credit analysis, risk management, portfolio management, capital markets, and treasury.
Having performed various banking roles in HK, Canada, and Philippines, he understands the funding challenge faced by asset-lite tech-driven companies with limited credit histories.
Ryan holds an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business and is a Certified Credit Risk Management Professional.
Darren carries over 5 years of corporate banking experience in sectors including commodities and Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT). Prior to joining Choco-Up, Darren spent almost 3 years at DBS Bank as a Relationship Manager in the Institutional Banking Group – TMT team. Darren was involved in deal execution ranging from leveraged buyouts to project financing, covering clients mainly from Singapore, Europe, and the US. Darren graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance).
After an amazing 5-year journey of working at the core team of 2 startups, Tracy is now applying her passion and knowledge in fundraising to connect entrepreneurs and small business owners with Choco Up. Eager to understand the founders’ vision and needs, helping them succeed and building long-term relationships.
She also gets very excited about startup and investment trends!
Tracy holds an LLB from Durham University.
Emmanuel has prior experiences working in the finance industry, in banks and corporate finance, with multiple internships to prepare him for the fast-paced and rigorous requirements needed. He is passionate about investing and helping start-ups to grow and scale up, fast-tracking their growth in the shortest amount of time needed.
Emmanuel graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance).
Always fascinating about ever-changing world with creative ways of doing businesses. Opportunities are everywhere if you set your mind on it.Prior to joining Choco Up, Endrita was in a Financial Service, Real Estate and Tech industry. He researched & established new businesses that involved full spectrum of strategic business initiatives. Always solving challenges with technology and conventional methods.Helping entrepreneurs in fundraising to accelerate & propel their business growth. To leverage on connections/partnership for new business creation. Endrita graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Marketing.
Abby has prior experiences working in insurance company, bank, and security firms. Prior to joining Choco Up, she was a Treasurer in the financial industry for years. Abby holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration.
Allen was the country manager at tinvio, launched the application from zero to one in Hong Kong Market. Tinvio is a chat-to-order app for merchants ordering their suppliers.
They have raised a total of 18 million USD from Sequoia, GFC, Partech, Appworks, MUFG. He also worked in multiple startups including foodpanda, Votee and Goobee Bike in his early career.
Allen holds a bachelor degree in Environmental Science from the University of Sheffield.
Kay is an experienced full-stack digital marketer curious and fascinated by businesses where transformative technology reins.
Her growing up years in Hong Kong has enabled her to adapt well to a multicultural environment. It has given her the insight and experience to working with people from all walks of life. Outside of work, she takes passion in reading and traveling, which are cemented in her strong belief in lifelong learning in today's competitive world.
Before joining Choco Up, Hazel has gained hands-on content and organic performance marketing experience from several startups and fintech. As a digital marketing professional with years of experience, Hazel is a passionate and creative person who loves to take on new challenges. She is now focused on the exciting world of growth marketing.
Temmy is a Business Development Associate. She holds a Bsc in Applied Biology with Biotechnology degree from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has experience in the biotechnology industry and is excited to extend herself in this new venture.
Her multicultural experience, growing up in Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong, helped to shape her identity and allowed her to make meaningful connections with people from around the world. It allowed her to learn how to adapt and acquire new perspectives, (things) which continue to play a big role in her life.
Tony is an experienced Senior Software Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He is skilled in JavaScript, React, Node.js and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
With over a decade of experience in Software, Tony's expertise and fluency in computer language allows him to bring ideas into reality with ease and efficiency.
Tony holds a BSc in Computer Science (First Honours) focused in Computer Science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Angel is a passionated software engineer based in Hong Kong. With experience in information technology industry, she is a motivated learner skilled in NodeJs, Angular, MySQL.
Angel holds an Information Technology Bachelor Degree from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Having studied Linguistics, Watson is a self-trained software engineer with a demonstrated history in the real-estate industry.
The application of his self-taught skills in an industry-disruptive real-estate technology product proves his competency in IT, as well as his ability to adapt to the ever-changing standards of the software programming industry.
Additionally, Watson has experience in FinTech software development, making him a key player in the development of Choco's FinTech platforms.
Kevin Lai is a polyglot developer with over 5 years of experience in web development, machine learning, AI and building data pipelines.
A top 10% StackOverflow contributor, Kevin’s technical background also spans across e-commerce, construction, backend manufacturing, biomedical, telecom and recruitment.
As an Entrepreneur First alumni, Kevin started his own company Borecast in 2017. He was the recipient of several grants and interviewed at Y Combinator and TechStar.
A recipient of Algorand Foundation’s Developer Awards in 2020, Kevin is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and built an application for people to explore Algorand’s blockchains.
Kevin holds a bachelor degree in CUHK and a master’s degree in Georgia Tech, and is currently the Graduate Student Liaison of George Tech's Student Alumni Association.
Having studied digital design, Justin is a self taught developer with a passion to build seamless digital products.
Justin has spent the past few years working at various companies in London, working on projects for world-leading companies within cyber security and beyond.
Kwun Ying started his career in actuarial science in property & casualty insurance in the New York metro area and ventured into consumer goods manufacturing and trading on his return to Hong Kong. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.