Paul Santos

B. Paul Santos is Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners and led the establishment of the Singapore-headquartered Southeast Asia (SEA) office in 2012. The firm is SEA’s go-to early-stage VC for enterprise and deep tech with over $180M in assets under management (AUM) across 3 funds. 116 out of the 136 (85%) portfolio companies the firm has invested in since 2012 are in enterprise & deep tech. Its portfolio includes startups in software, AI and cybersecurity as well as precision agriculture, cleantech, additive manufacturing and laser communications.

Investee companies that have managed to raise significant financing rounds include Zilingo, Blaize, GudangAda and Novade. Companies that have achieved significant traction include eFishery, Growsari, Lynk and Silent Eight. Exits include TradeGecko’s $80M acquisition by Intuit, Moka’s acquisition for $130M and Coins.ph for $72M by Gojek, Red Dot Payment by PayU/Naspers for $65M+ and Wavecell by 8×8 for $125M.

Paul is an Advisor to the Singapore Management University (SMU) Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) where he is also an Adjunct Faculty Member. He is also a member of the Singapore chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). His angel investments are in non-tech companies in industries like distribution, pest control and logistics.

Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Paul was an entrepreneur who had co-founded six companies across multiple industries and sold three of them. He started his career as a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble (P&G). He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a B.S. in Management Engineering and a Joint Minor in International Management with the University of Antwerp.