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Tao T.

Angel Investor · UP VC

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10+ yrs experienceCheque size: 100

Tao has 22 years of international business development experience in the Fintech, Telecom, and Technology industries with EMEA and APAC regions coverage. He held several leadership positions and helped global brands, including Alibaba's Alipay and Ashmore Group, achieved explosive growth (multi-billion dollars revenue, millions new customers, and 35 new markets rollout). as well as overseeing the payment and investment regulatory mandates (Payments Regulations, MiFID2 and SMCR). His areas of expertise are e-Wallet, Embedded Finance, lifestyle super App, Open Banking, Wealth Tech, and Web3.0. Since the pandemic, Tao has advised leading consulting firms on Fintech matters, with an emphasis on growth strategy, value proposition, and build-learn-launch (lean start-up). He also serves as a board advisor for various Fintech businesses. Xtransfer, one of his portfolio firms, became a unicorn in 2022. Furthermore, Tao is a co-founder of Up VC, an early-stage Fintech venture capital firm.

Tao attended executive programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School in addition to receiving the significant scholarship possible for the Warwick Business School Executive MBA programme.

While not working, he is a keen foodie and gardener.

Specialties:
Mobile Payment & Open Banking
Embedded Finance (Payment, Lending, Investing and etc.)
Wealth Tech
E-Wallet & Super App

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Investment focus

Sectors

Marketplaces & PlatformsFinTechCrypto & Web3

Stage

pre-seedseedlate-seed

Investment criteria

I invest in founders who are building at the intersection of finance and technology, which is what I like to call X-Tech. I typically back companies at Pre-Seed, Seed, or early Series A stage, where the product is real, the opportunity is large, and the team is still shaping what the business will become. My focus is on startups transforming how money moves, how people transact, and how technology makes financial life simpler, safer, or more efficient.

What I look for above all is people. Great founders with complementary skills, diverse backgrounds, and an ability to turn unfair advantages into lasting momentum. I’m drawn to teams who truly understand their market and are solving a real pain point (not inventing one). I value execution over noise: founders who move quickly, iterate intelligently, and stay grounded in results. And I appreciate an entrepreneurial mindset: strategic thinkers who know how to build moats, manage risk, and create value step by step.

My investment approach follows what I call the ABCDX Strategy, a simple way to describe where I see the most exciting opportunities right now:

A – Assets & CBDCs: The convergence of Web2 and Web3, including wallets, social finance, privacy, NFTs, and tools that make crypto and digital assets safe and accessible to the mainstream.
B – Banking Technologies: The next generation of cloud-native, open-source financial infrastructure — from payments and lending to embedded finance across insurance and investing.
C – Commerce Experience: New ways consumers buy, pay, and interact via social shopping, BNPL, open banking, and frictionless coordination between merchants and customers.
D – Data & AI: Intelligent systems that use quality data to improve decision-making, efficiency, and personalisation. Turning information into competitive advantage.
X – X-Tech: Technologies outside pure fintech that improve productivity and experience while lowering cost, from LegalTech and HealthTech to ESGTech and MedTech.

I like founders who think globally from day one but execute locally with discipline. My role is to help them see around corners to combine strategic clarity with operational realism. I don’t chase hype; I back focus, craft, and conviction.

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