Saemin Ahn is the Managing Partner at Rakuten Ventures. He is responsible for leading and evaluating investments (team, product, IP, market, channels), conducting due diligence and analyzing deal structure. Prior to Rakuten Ventures, Sae was at Google for 5 years from 2009 to 2013 managing Sales and Business Development for Asia. He has extensive experience in Brand Management and Content Distribution with his time at Hyundai Card and Animal Studio, an animation startup.

Rakuten Ventures is the investment arm of the Rakuten Group – one of the world’s leading Internet service companies, providing a variety of consumer- and business-focused services including e-commerce, eBooks, travel, finances, media, online marketing, sports, etc.

Rakuten Ventures manages a US$ 200 million Global Investment Fund and a ¥ 10 billion Japan Fund. Originally launched in 2013, its Global Investment Fund counts Carousell, Visenze, PocketMath, SendAnywhere, Algorithmia, and Epic! among its investment portfolio. Rakuten Ventures is run out of Singapore by Managing Partner SaeMin Ahn, Investment Manager Hogil Doh, and Principal Adit Swarup.

This early stage corporate venture capital fund focuses on empowering the startup ecosystem to positively affect Internet services globally. Rakuten Ventures partners with early and growth-stage startups to build services that can have a lasting impact in an increasingly competitive digital age. With a dedicated team based in Singapore and Tokyo, Rakuten Ventures combines the objectivity and network of traditional venture funds with the unique access to Rakuten’s global businesses to help portfolio companies unlock the distribution and expertise necessary to stay ahead of the curve.