Understanding VC Podcast: Puiyan Leung on how we assess a founding team’s profile, what it takes to raise a series A & the opportunities in climate tech and creator economy

Puiyan LEUNG | 04 Jan 2023

Understanding VC is a deep dive on how venture capitalists work. In this episode, Rahul Thayyalamkandy talks to Puiyan Leung, our Partner.

Tune in to hear about her journey of breaking into VC with her engineering background. She proceeds further by sharing her learnings and experiences that she’s had so far after working closely with startups followed by the processes and core values that we follow at Vertex Ventures.

She also talks about the ways we assess Series A startups based on the founding team and what it takes to raise a Series A. Eventually, the conversation shifts to ‘creator economy’ and ‘climate tech’, and Puiyan talks about the opportunities in these spaces, their sustainability, and the ways in which VCs look at them.

In this episode you will learn:

  • How has Puiyan broken into the VC industry despite having an engineering background?
  • According to Puiyan, should a startup founder engage with a big corporation as their initial customer or should he/she go after the SMB & Mid-Market segment?
  • What are the core values of Vertex Ventures SE Asia and India?
  • What does it take to raise a Series A?
  • How does Vertex Ventures assess Series A startups? How do they go about evaluating the founding team?
  • Does it make sense for startups to raise as much funds as possible in series A? What are some downsides of doing this?
  • The creator economy is on a boom, but at the same time, there are very few creators creating sustainable businesses. Will the creator economy expand, and sustain at the same time?
  • What are the opportunities that Puiyan sees in the creator economy?
  • What is climate tech and how do VCs look at it?

Listen to the podcast episode here: UVC: Puiyan Leung from Vertex Ventures SE Asia & India on how they assess a founding team’s profile, what it takes to raise a series A & the opportunities in climate tech and creator economy

**For the latest news on Vertex Ventures SE Asia and India and our portfolio companies, follow us on Linkedin or** subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India is part of the global Vertex Ventures network of funds.


In addition to Southeast Asia and India, the Vertex Global Network is comprised of affiliates in Silicon Valley, China and Israel. This provides a unique platform for our portfolio companies to realize their full potential by leveraging the combined experience and resources of our extensive network of global partners.

250 North Bridge Road, #09-01

Raffles City Tower,

Singapore 179101

+65 6828 8088

© 2022 by Vertex. All rights reserved. Legal