The young VCs and entrepreneurs on this year’s list are helping fuel startup growth by providing access to capital.
In 2022 Patrick Nappa was working as a software engineer at Apple in Sydney when, inspired by the company’s famous slogan, “think different,” he teamed up with a banker pal to launch a fintech firm offering online loans to small businesses. “I just really liked the challenge,” recalls Nappa, who studied computer science at the University of Sydney. “I wanted to jump into a field that I am not an expert in and just become, like, ‘the guy.’” Now he’s overseeing tech at Kashcade, which has evolved from its original concept to become a niche lender to Australian startups and small businesses, providing financing against the R&D tax incentive refunds they get from the government.
Nappa is one of the listees on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia: Finance & Venture Capital list, who are actively helping startups across the Asia-Pacific grow by providing access to capital.
To foster innovation, Australia allows companies with less than A$20 million in annual revenue a refundable tax offset of up to 43.5% of total R&D spending each year. Kashcade unlocks that refund early, disbursing loans of as much as 80% of the refund amount. It charges an upfront fee of A$950 ($680) and a monthly interest of 1.38%. The loan is repaid, according to Kashcade, when the tax office deposits the refund into an account it controls. So far, Nappa says, the company has lent A$100 million to 200 businesses, including humanoid-robot developer Andromeda, the brainchild of Grace Brown, a 30 Under 30 Asia alum of 2025.
Kashcade, which has raised A$80 million through a mix of investor funding and loans, turned profitable last year and revenue is doubling every year, according to Nappa. The cofounders now plan to provide financial analytics software and are also looking to expand to other countries.
In neighboring New Zealand, Bex Gidall is a principal at Icehouse Ventures, a VC firm focused on local startups with over $1 billion in assets under management. She joined the firm in 2021 as an analyst and rose up the ranks to become principal in November 2025. Gidall leads the firm’s $25 million climate tech fund and a $10 million female founders fund. She has invested $13 million in 21 startups, including energy grid forecasting software provider Factor, digital scent sensor maker Scentian Bio and computer code visualizer Syntroper. Gidall also leads Arc, a community of female founders and investors working to increase women’s participation in the startup ecosystem. She is a board member at Factor and a board observer at Scentian Bio.
Bex Gidall, principal at Icehouse Ventures.
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Over in Indonesia, Elice Jesslyn Ongko is a senior associate at B Capital, a venture capital firm cofounded by Facebook cofounder and Singapore-based billionaire Eduardo Saverin. Since joining the firm in 2024, Ongko, who is based in Jakarta, has invested $60 million in three startups: industrial robot developer Eureka Robotics, e-commerce last-mile delivery courier Ninja Van and marketing automation software developer MoEngage. Ongko was inspired by her parents, who are both entrepreneurs. Prior to joining B Capital, she worked at KPMG, McKinsey, and Northstar Group, a private equity firm.
Duc Anh Bui leads AI and cybersecurity investments in Southeast Asia and the U.S. out of Ho Chi Minh City for Kasikorn Business-Technology Group (KBTG), the tech arm of Kasikornbank (KBank), Thailand’s third-largest bank by assets. Bui, who joined KBTG in January 2025, has built a portfolio of cybersecurity companies in New York and the Bay Area, including Zest Security, a cloud security developer that automates code-based fixes, Jericho Security, a security developer that creates realistic phishing simulations, and Onyxia, a cyber resilience designer that uses AI to optimize security stacks. Bui also helps U.S. portfolio companies expand into Southeast Asia.
In India, Anant Mohta is a Mumbai-based partner at MKVentures, the investment firm of veteran stock investor Madhusudan Kela, covering banking, food and beverage, renewable energy and wellness. Since joining in June 2025 he has worked on several key deals, including investments in one of India’s largest alcohol makers and a leading discount brokerage in the country. Previously, Mohta worked at Bain Capital’s Asia-Pacific private equity team, where he became the firm’s youngest vice president in 2023 at the age of 27. He started his career as a management consultant at Kearney.
Anant Mohta, partner at MKVentures.
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Over in South Korea, Jung Eun Park helped launch BLT & Partners, the startup accelerator arm of Seoul-based BLT Patent & Law Firm, in 2025. With a background in intellectual property, BLT & Partners evaluates investments based on the strength of the startups’ IP. So far, the firm has backed six deep tech startups, including chip designer Morumi, AI-powered screen-talent matchmaker PLFIL and autonomous drone maker Vololand. In December, BLT joined the Nvidia Inception Alliance, a startup support program by the AI chip giant. Before joining BLT & Partners as CEO, Park was an investor at VC firm Bridge Investment. She earned a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In Japan, Yasuaki Miyajima is a Tokyo-based senior associate at Blackstone’s private equity team. Miyajima has worked on some of the biggest deals in Japan since he joined in 2021. Last year, he played a key role in Blackstone’s acquisition of engineering staffing firm TechnoPro for $3.5 billion, which was the firm’s largest investment ever in Japan. Miyajima, who holds a law degree from the University of Tokyo, worked at Morgan Stanley before joining Blackstone.
Based in Hong Kong, Jimmy Ng is a senior director at Gobi Partners, an Asian venture capital firm that has backed the likes of Airwallex and WeLab. Ng joined the firm in 2022 and quickly rose up the ranks, earning two promotions within three and a half years. He has invested more than $30 million into a dozen startups in Hong Kong and mainland China, including the seed round for contactless health monitoring developer PanopticAI, cofounded by 30 Under 30 Asia alums Kyle Wong and Teric Chan, and construction management company isBIM, which made the 100 to Watch list in 2024. Ng is on the boards of PanopticAI, isBIM and ride-sharing app RushOwl.
Read our complete Finance & Venture Capital list here – and be sure to check out our full Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2026 coverage here.
