Melhuish will help part-time to source for new investments, evaluate potential deals, and advise portfolio companies

Steve Melhuish

Wavemaker Partners, an active VC firm in Southeast Asia, has announced the appointments of PropertyGuru Co-founder Steve Melhuish as a Venture Partner, and experienced investment banker Sui Ling Cheah as Operating Partner.

Melhuish will help part-time to source for new investments, evaluate potential deals, and advise portfolio companies, while Cheah will help the more mature companies in the portfolio with business development, follow-on financing, and exits.

Melhuish was the long-time CEO of PropertyGuru, Southeast Asia’s leading property portal. He is one of the rare entrepreneurs in the region who has built a company into leadership in five markets. He stepped down as the CEO of the company in 2016.

Prior to this, he worked in an investment advisory firm in London, as well as telecommunications company Mercury Communications (now Cable & Wireless).

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“When it came to thinking what I should do next in the startup scene, I decided it was most prudent to invest in and support a fund–more importantly, to support its portfolio companies. [Enterprise startups] are underserved even if in many cases, it has the fastest path to profitability and to going global. I believe in Wavemaker’s founder-friendly values and approach,” said Melhuish, who has been angel investing since 2004.

Cheah spent 20 years in investment banking raising capital for high-growth companies, taking them public and executing cross-border M&A. In her most recent role, she served as the Head of Corporate Finance SEA at BNP Paribas. Prior, she was Executive Director of Investment Banking at JP Morgan Singapore. She started her career with Merrill Lynch New York followed by stints in Singapore and London.

“Crossing the divide from investment banking to the world of tech startups has been an incredible journey so far. I find it rewarding being able to leverage my banking experience to help young entrepreneurs raise capital and take their businesses to the next stage. Furthermore, Wavemaker invests a fair bit in deep tech startups so I get constant exposure to cutting edge technologies and innovative business models which is truly exciting and intellectually stimulating”

Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia’s leading early-stage venture capital firm focusing on enterprise and deep technology companies. It has invested in more than 80 companies in the region since 2012 with 80 per cent in enterprise and over 20 per cent in deep tech. Its portfolio companies include coins.ph, Zilingo, and greyloft.

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