Responsible for venture capital activities in South East Asia, Australia, and India, Monica Tsai looks after a broad area for Singapore-based telecommunications firm Singtel.
Joining the firm in 2007, Tsai was first deputy director and then director for strategic investments at the firm before joining its corporate venturing arm, Singtel Innov8, when it launched in 2011 with a $250m fund. She received a further promotion, to senior director, in June 2015.
An engineer by training, the Cornell University graduate spent little time in that field before joining financial firm Capital One in 1999, where she spent five years as a senior business analyst developing credit card product terms and policies for sub-prime account acquisition strategies, marketing strategy and customer retention programmes.
Tsai left Capital One to return to studies, adding an Insead MBA to her Cornell BSc and MS engineering degrees. She then spent a further two years at marketing sales and service firm PubliGroupe, where she oversaw corporate finance operations.
Since joining SingTel, Tsai has been integral in the formation of OpenNet, SingTel’s next generation broadband network for Singapore, and the 2008 acquisition of Singapore Computer Systems for $99m.