Saemin Ahn is Singapore-based managing partner of Rakuten Ventures, an investment vehicle that falls under the auspices of Japan-headquartered e-commerce firm Rakuten’s corporate venture capital (CVC) arm, Rakuten Capital.
Ahn is also an executive officer of Rakuten, where he drives and assesses investment opportunities, outlines deal structure and takes part in mentoring schemes for entrepreneurs.
Ahn has held the managing partner role at the Rakuten Ventures fund since its formation in 2013. He currently sits on the boards of a number of portfolio companies including e-commerce platform Carousell, visual technology developer ViSenze and digital literature platform developer Epic.
Most recently, the unit has backed Singaporean mobile phone payment firm Airalo in its $5m series A raise as well as participating in the $17m venture round for QuEra Computing, a Boston-based quantum computing startup.
In 2016, Rakuten doubled the size of its Global Investment Fund to $200m and launched the ¥10bn ($81m) Rakuten Ventures Japan Fund to invest in startups in its home country.
Ahn joined Rakuten Ventures from internet and technology group Google (now under the auspices of Alphabet) in 2013. He started his career in brand management and content distribution from his stints at automotive group Hyundai Motor’s credit card operating subsidiary, Hyundaicard, and animation studio Animal Studio.
Eventually, Ahn moved to Singapore with an Asia-focused sales and business development role for Google in 2009 and from there stepped up to cover the whole Asia-Pacific region.
A native of South Korea, Ahn received a bachelor of science in business administration and broadcasting and journalism from Sogang University in Seoul.
