Before Matrix, David was a co-founder and General Partner of TDF Capital. Between 2000 and 2008, David focused primarily on TMT and medical technology investments in China. He led TDF’s investments in Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) and AAC Acoustic (2018.HK), both of which went public in 2005. He also invested in, and worked with many of TDF Capital’s early stage portfolio companies including P-Cube (sold to Cisco Systems), Q-Entertainment, Datou.com, NuBB.com, and Kanghui Medical. David was concurrently a partner of KPCB China Fund when TDF formed an alliance with KPCB in China in 2007. Prior to TDF, David worked at Lotus for seven years, helping to build Lotus’ business in China from the ground up.

David understands deeply the operations and sales challenges that entrepreneurs face, as he has spent a significant time in one of the most challenging industries in China in the 1990s, namely selling enterprise software while he was working for Lotus.  “It was incredibly challenging, and that was even with a strong product and the backing of the global software company known for its innovation and excellence. It took immense effort to develop a nascent market from the ground up and convince customers to adopt the new products and services. The experience taught me to persevere and be open-minded when it comes to tackling key problems. We greatly appreciate the pressures that entrepreneurs go through and would like to support the entrepreneurs overcoming these key challenges,” he explained.

David was born and raised in Malaysia, and left for Singapore to pursue his high school and university education. He subsequently graduated from Nanyang Technological University, where he studied computer engineering. He started his career as a computer systems analyst at the Port of Singapore Authority working on operations control systems for one of the busiest ports in the world.