Thomas G. Tsao is a venture capital investor and Co-founder of Gobi Partners, a leading Asia- focused venture capital firm headquartered in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Since 2002, Gobi has overseen ~US$2 billion AUM across more than 30 investment vehicles, and its team of 80+ professionals now manages a portfolio of over 400 companies from 18 locations.

Thomas has over 30 years of experience in venture capital, operations, fund management, and investment banking. Over the last 20+ years, Thomas has actively helped entrepreneurs build companies and create value.

In China, Thomas was a first-round investor into Airwallex, Dianwoda (acquired by Cainiao), Teambition(acquired by Alibaba), Tuniu (IPO), UR (acquired by HLA), and WaveOptics (acquired by Snap). He wasnamed to the Forbes List of China’s Top VCs from 2013 – 2017. For two years, he served as CEO for DMG and created the world’s first subway soap opera, starring Huang Xiaoming, for Starbucks.

Thomas helps lead the team that manages funds in the Greater Bay Area, including the Patient Capital Strategic Fund set up with HKIC to foster deep tech breakthroughs. Gobi has invested in companies like Animoca Brands, DayDayCook (IPO), GenEditBio, Gestala, GoGoX (IPO), Orcauboat, Prenetics (de-SPAC), Sandbox VR, Stellerus, Xense Robotics and WeLab.

In 2015, Thomas relocated to Kuala Lumpur where he set up several funds with MAVCAP, Malaysia’s largest VC firm, now known as Jelawang Capital. Gobi has invested in over 100 companies in Southeast Asia, including Baca Berita (acquired by ByteDance), Carsome (Malaysia’s first tech unicorn), CloudEats, DealStreetAsia (acquired by Nikkei Asia), Delivereat (acquired by AirAsia), Finnomena, Funding Societies, GreatAsic, HealthMetrics, Hermo (acquired by istyle), GoQuo (acquired by TUI), PolicyStreet, SkyeChip (IPO) and Synagistics (de-SPAC).

Thomas is now building Gobi’s TaqwaTech investment practice focused on innovative startups serving Muslim communities such as Abhi, Muslim Pro, DealCart, PriceOye and Sastaticket.

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Thomas graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Economics and was the inspiration for Seinfeld’s Movie Phone episode. He is a committee member of the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund under the Securities Commission Malaysia and a former Board Member of the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA) and Endeavor Malaysia.

As a strong advocate for accessible education, Thomas founded SEO China in 2006, a non-profit organisation that has provided hundreds of internships for underserved university students. He also served as Chair of the US Presidential Scholars Foundation, which cultivates, connects, and celebrates US Presidential Scholars — 161 of the nation’s top high school students selected annually and honoured by the White House.