Bernard Leong

Current

• Partner at Thymos Capital LLP
• Co-Founder/Director at TriplePoint Media - SGEntrepreneurs

Past

• Chief Operating Officer at SENATUS Pte Ltd
• Adjunct Research Fellow at National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre
• Advisor at National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Society

• Research Scientist at Genome Institute of Singapore
• Co-Founder at SimuGen
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
• Vice President at Cambridge University Entrepreneurs
• Chairman at Acumen - UK wide network
• Advisor at Cambridge University Technology and Entrepreneurship Club (CUTEC)
• Global Startup Workshop Lead Organizer (UK) at Cambridge University Entrepreneurs

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Education

• Cambridge University
• National University of Singapore

Recommended

14 people have recommended Bernard

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Venture Capital & Private Equity

Websites

• My Blog
• My Blog
• My Company

Bernard Leong’s Summary

I am currently in the private sector mainly on interactive digital media space, both as an entrepreneur specializing in online social networks (former COO, SENATUS - building & growing the platform) and investor under Thymos Capital LLP on online social networks, mobile and web applications. My experience is mainly in product and business development of online social networks and web-mobile apps.

Formerly an academic and research scientist, specializing in computational biology, theoretical physics, economics and strong interest in public policy. I have published papers in prestigous journals on these fields (ApJ, Physical Review D, Cell).

Speaking & Social Media Engagements:

2009
- Panelist, Social Networking Forum Asia, Panellist on “Monetising and developing the strategic relationship with operator and publisher”, 22-23 Sep 2009.
- Speaker, Executive Summary Workshop, NTU Ideas Inc Business Competition, 12 Sep.
- Lecturer, “Building Online Communities: Marketing, Business Strategies and Trends” (in Chinese), NTU Nanyang University for MSc TIP (Chinese) Programme, 4 Sep.
- Speaker, "Thoughts on Social Networking from Offline to Online", TEDx Sentosa, 11 July
- Moderator on Panel "Budgeting for Innovation/Experimental Marketing", Ad-Tech Singapore, 9-10 June
- Speaker, "Self-Organization, Economics and Football Managers", TEDx Kuala Lumpur, 3 June
- "Much Ado about Social Networks in Asia", a talk and breakout session in Unconference 2009, Biopolis, Singapore.
- Invited by Nokia to attend Nokia Developer Summit 2009 in Monte Carlo.

2008
- Challenges & Opportunities in Interactive & Digital Media Investments, organized by Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, April.
- Singapore Facebook Developers' Garage: Marketing and Monetization of FB Apps: Hype or Gold Mine?, Microsoft Singapore, March.

Bernard Leong’s Specialties:

- Interactive Digital Media (Online Social Networks, Rich media sharing and Mobile-Web interfaces, Social Media)
- Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship & Due Diligence on Technology Companies (IT and Biotech Based Companies).
- Computer knowledge of operating systems (Mac OSX, Windows, Linux), languages (Java, LaTeX, C++, C, Perl, MySQL, XML and HTML, CSS), Content Management Systems (Drupal, Joomla, Python-Django).
- Theoretical Physics and Computational Biology

Bernard Leong’s Experience

• Partner

  Thymos Capital LLP

  (Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

  August 2007 — Present (2 years 4 months)

  - Currently from June 2008, I am on part-time basis as a partner to source and invest deals.
  - Thymos Capital incubates and invests in digital interactive media technology seed stage companies (web 2.0, online social networks and virtual worlds) based in Singapore.
  - My portfolio includes iHipo (jobs social network), Eteract (dating online social network), iSlide (iPhone App), Phlook (photo sharing site), EZInteract, DoQer. Some of the companies have been featured on TechCrunch, the Next Web and Mashable.

• Co-Founder/Director

  TriplePoint Media - SGEntrepreneurs

  (Think Tanks industry)

  July 2005 — Present (4 years 5 months)

  - Co-founder, Editor and contributor to the blog "Singapore Entrepreneurs", http://www.sgentrepreneurs.com
  - Manage external relations with strategic partners.
  - Triple Point Media is a holding company for SGEntrepreneurs and is incorporated in April 2009.

• Chief Operating Officer

  SENATUS Pte Ltd

  (Online Media industry)

  June 2008 — May 2009 (1 year )

  - Lead management team to execute on various aspects of the company.
  - Project management of building the social network technology platform. Involved in product development
  - SENATUS is an online private social network which focuses on brand advertising and rich media delivery.
  - Develop business strategies and monetization models for the site.
  - Website: http://www.senatus.net

• Adjunct Research Fellow

  National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre

  (Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Research industry)

  September 2005 — April 2008 (2 years 8 months)

  - Steering committee member in Start-Up@Singapore business plan competition.
  - Research on technology and innovation transfer in university, biotech commercialization and business plan valuation.
  - Judge for preliminary and semi-finals for Start-Up@Singapore competition
  - Panellist for BioBusiness Conference 2006 on "Trends in Asia"
  - Adjunct Asst Professor from 2005-2006.

• Advisor

  National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Society

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Higher Education industry)

  August 2004 — March 2008 (3 years 8 months)

  - Advising the NUS Entrepreneurship Society, mainly the student leaders, on strategy in the regional and global scene, press, branding and marketing and how they can interface with Startup@Singapore business plan competition.
  - Offer them training and ideas on various aspects of running an efficient and productive organization.

• Research Scientist

  Genome Institute of Singapore

  (Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Research industry)

  September 2005 — January 2008 (2 years 5 months)

  - My research profile will be on computational biology, particularly in the field of genomics and genetics.
  - In the department of information and mathematical sciences.
  - Also advise on biotechnology commercialization for the technologies within the institute.

• Co-Founder

  SimuGen

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Biotechnology industry)

  December 2004 — September 2005 (10 months)

  - SimuGen is a Cambridge based startup company which uses gene-profiling kits and computational biology to determine liver toxicity cheaper, better and faster.
  - The team has won 2nd in the Cambridge 3P business plan competitiion and 5th in Startup@Singapore.
  - The company is currently in proof of concept stage.
  - I have exited from all executive appointments and currently a shareholder to the company.

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow

  Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK

  (Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)

  June 2003 — August 2005 (2 years 3 months)

  - Under the International Fellowship from the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR), Singapore, I am currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Bioinformatics (Team 71) Sanger Institute.
  - As a research scientist under the Hubbard Research Group, my work is primarily on developing a model for alternative splicing and coding exons using machine learning and independent component analysis in the Human Genome project.

• Vice President

  Cambridge University Entrepreneurs

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  May 2004 — June 2005 (1 year 2 months)

  - Oversees internal matters with the President of CU Entrepreneurs, particularly focusing on sponsorship, logistics and recruitment for this committee.
  - Management of External Relations with business communities, entrepreneurial societies and Cambridge community for the society.
  - Involved with other external strategic initiatives on behalf of the society.

• Chairman

  Acumen - UK wide network

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  June 2004 — March 2005 (10 months)

  Acumen is a UK-wide network for student entrepreneurial societies and entrepreneurial organizations. The members include AdVenture (Warwick), FishOnToast (Southampton) and Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) and CU Entrepreneurs, Aberystwyth Entrepreneur Society (Wales), London Business School, London School of Economics (LSE) Entrepreneurs and Oxford University Entrepreneurs.
  - Presented the network in MIT-$50K Global Startup Workshop, Abu Dhabi 2005, spoke in Panel VIII on "Harnassing Global Community" and formulated an initiative to set up a similar network in Asia.
  - Raised £20K and proposed the project to Cambridge-MIT Institute with Stewart McTavish and Jasdeep Singh.
  - Chairman to oversee the meetings among all the presidents and members from the various entrepreneurial societies involved in this initiative.
  - Responsible for the two key initiatives agreed by the founding members: website and UK summit and management of the funds for the whole project.

• Advisor

  Cambridge University Technology and Entrepreneurship Club (CUTEC)

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

  April 2004 — June 2004 (3 months)

  - Advised the CUTEC team on logistics and marketing issues of the conference.
  - Worked directly with CUTEC leadership to develop the brandiing, plan and execute their first venture capital conference in June 2004 at Guildhall in London, UK

• Global Startup Workshop Lead Organizer (UK)

  Cambridge University Entrepreneurs

  (Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  July 2003 — May 2004 (11 months)

  - Plan and organize the most successful conference in the MIT-$50K Global Startup Workshop (GSW) history with the highest number of delegates.
  - Lead a team of 40 people from both MIT and Cambridge, which includes MBAs from Sloan Institute of Management (MIT) and Judge Institute of Management (Cambridge).
  - Raise and manage £90K for the conference.
  - The GSW conference is a worldwide conference to share the best practices of business plan competitions and entrepreneurship and has run for six years in Boston, Singapore, Spain, Italy, Australia and China.

Bernard Leong’s Education

• Cambridge University

  Ph.D (Physics) , Theoretical Physics , October 1999 — February 2003

  - Elected Treasurer of the Darwin College Student Association 2000-2001: Managed a budget about 26,000 pounds for the student population on sport clubs, welfare and other activities,
  - Producer for Darwin College Play: "The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty":
  - Stage Manager/Producer for Cambridge University Malaysia and Singapore Association Ball Play, "Masquerade"
  - Worked in the college bar as a bartender, played volleyball for college, debated in the Cambridge Union and rowed in the 3rd man's boat in the Darwin Boat Club.

  Activities and Societies:

  Cambridge University (CU) Entrepreneurs, Darwin College Student Association (DCSA), Cambridge Union, Cambridge University Malaysia and Singapore Association (CUMSA), Darwin College Origins (Drama Society)

• National University of Singapore

  BSc , Physics and Materials Science , June 1995 — June 1998

  - I was the founder and president of the National University of Singapore Astronomical Society. I built the team, wrote the constitution of the society and organized various activities in the organization.
  - I was the chairman of the Undergraduate Science Research Programme, and I organized the National Annual Undergraduate Science Congress (conference) in 1998 and compiled all the research proceedings of that year.
  - In the Talent Development Programme under the Science Faculty. In additional to the modules taken for the double major in physics and materials science, I have taken two modules of study on business finance (with the business & administration faculty) and public policy (arts faculty).
  - Did two research projects under the Undergraduate Research Project, one on satellite tracking and the other on atomic force microscopy with biological cells. I published both works in the annual research proceedings.
  - Alumni of King Edward VII Hall

  Activities and Societies:

  Founder/President for National University of Singapore Astronomical Society (Zeroth Committee) 1997-1998,
  Chairman, Undergraduate Science Research Programme 1996-1997

Additional Information

Bernard Leong’s Websites:

• My Blog
• My Blog
• My Company

Bernard Leong’s Interests:

Reading and Writing, New Technology, Venture Capital and Private Equity, Politics, Sociology, Economics, Racket Sports, Ballroom & Latin Dancing, Cooking, Debating, Rowing and Punting.

Bernard Leong’s Groups:

Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR) Singapore, National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre, The Indus Entrepreneurs, Cambridge University Entrepreneurs, CUTEC, Cambridge Union

•    Private Equity and Venture Capital Group
•    Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC)
•    Cambridge University Entrepreneurs
•    Singapore Entrepreneurs
•    Startup Specialists
•    Science, Technology & Innovation Policy Professionals + Fellows
•    BarcampBangkok
•    Cambridge University Alumni Group
•    The Digital Movement
•    Social Media, Social TV, Monitoring, Mobile Social Networks, Marketing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, PR
•    TEDx SINGAPORE
•    OrSiSo Group

Bernard Leong’s Honors:

- Winner of National University of Singapore Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2007).
- Winner of National University of Singapore Centennial Entrepreneurship Genesis Award as an emerging entrepreneur (2005)
- Awarded the title of "Malaysian Commonwealth Scholar" by Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre for the Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship (2000)
- British Petroleum Science Color Awards: Gold Medal for outstanding academic and leadership performances in National University of Singapore (1998)
- Dean's List on Science Faculty (1996-1998)

Bernard Leong’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch