Media Kit

Christine Tsai co-founded 500 Global in 2010, and led the firm’s growth over the past decade from a startup accelerator to a multi-stage venture capital firm with $2.4B in assets under management, and investments in more than 2,800 companies in 80+ countries. 500 Global regularly ranks as one of the most active venture capital firms in the world, according to PitchBook, with a top number of exits. The firm’s diversified portfolio includes over 35 companies valued at more than $1B, such as Talkdesk, Canva, Carbon Health, and GitLab. Private Equity International has named Christine one of 10 Women of Influence in venture capital. 

She currently serves on the venture capital committee of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers, and is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. Christine is also an honoree of Gold House’s 2021 A100 List, recognizing the most impactful Asian and Pacific Islander leaders across business and technology, entertainment, advocacy and politics, lifestyle, and sports.

Prior to founding 500 Global, she held product marketing and operating roles at Google, focusing primarily on monetization and developer products such as Google AdSense, Google Analytics, YouTube APIs and syndication, and Google Developer Platform Tools. 

Christine holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Courtney Powell is COO and Managing Partner at 500 Global, tasked with helping the firm scale globally and explore new opportunities across markets. She is responsible for operations across the team to pursue 500 Global’s mission of uplifting people and economies through entrepreneurship. She is also on the advisory council of Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government supporting more effective interactions between the public and private sectors for the public good.

Her ties to 500 Global go back to 2012, when she founded PublikDemand, a member of Batch 4 in 500’s Global Accelerator Program. She went on to become CEO of Agent Pronto, one of the largest real estate agent referral services in North America, which was ultimately acquired by Fidelity National Title Group.

Most recently, Courtney was the Head of Corporate Development at Keller Williams, the largest real estate franchise in the world. During her tenure, she established the company’s first corporate innovation program, and worked with Keller Capital to invest and acquire tech companies in the real estate space.

Courtney was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012, received the Twilio Doer Award in 2013, and became a Google Business Leader in 2015. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied French and Corporate Communication.

Tim Chae is a Managing Partner at 500 Global overseeing 500’s investments and global accelerator program. His investments include Spoon, OP.GG, PeopleFund, More Labs, Rachio, Dano, and Famebit (acquired by Google). In 2016, he was named to Forbes Asia’s inaugural “30 Under 30” list in Finance and Venture Capital. Tim was one of the youngest GPs in VC at the age of 23 with the closing in 2015 of the 500 Kimchi, L.P. $15M South Korea-based fund.

Prior to 500, Tim founded several bootstrapped and venture-backed startups, including PostRocket which provided Facebook newsfeed optimization for brands. He also took part in Batch 3 of 500’s Seed Accelerator program. Tim was named one of the top Youth Entrepreneurs in the U.S. by NFIB and McKelvey Foundation.

Tony Wang is a managing partner at 500 Global and an experienced early-stage and growth executive with a background in consumer internet, digital media, and healthcare. As an operating executive, Tony has helped companies scale from pre-product inception stages through to building global businesses.

At Google, Tony was part of the executive management team overseeing the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions from inception to over $2B in revenue. Tony later became VP at Twitter where he joined pre-revenue and helped develop Twitter’s global revenue and partnerships (including being Twitter’s VP of EMEA) through to Twitter’s $25B exit.

Most recently, Tony was Chief Operating Officer at Color, which applied software and machine learning to solve complex genomics problems, where he led various teams responsible for Color’s global business in genomics and digital health. Prior to being an operating executive, Tony practiced law in the fields of M&A, capital markets and venture-backed financings after getting a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Bedy Yang is a managing partner at 500 Global, one of the most active global venture capital firms in the world. Yang has an extensive track record as an investor at 500 Global, joining the Silicon Valley-based firm in 2011 and becoming Managing Member of its Global Flagship Funds I, II, III and IV. During her tenure, she’s supported notable companies within the portfolio including Talkdesk, OList, and Mural.

In the Middle East, Yang is part of the team responsible for 500 Global’s ecosystems development, where she spearheaded the Sanabil 500 MENA Seed Accelerator Program and Fund, which has invested in 94 companies to date.

Yang is deeply passionate about ecosystem development and she believes that uplifting founders and investors’ education and networks are key components to advancing innovation. She has overseen over 115 programs in 26 countries for founders and has trained over 1000 investors to hone their investment skills at a global scale through various VCUnlocked Program.

Prior to 500 Global, Yang worked as a management consultant specializing in distribution and go-to-market strategies for Fortune 500 companies in Brazil. She founded Brazil Innovators, an organization that became the premier hub for Brazilian tech founders, with a network of over 5,000 members.

Yang is a member of the Society of Kauffman Fellows, Class ‘17, a Guest Lecturer at Stanford Center for Professional Development, INSEAD and Berkeley, and a Forbes Contributor. She holds a BA from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and an MLA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Khailee Ng is a managing partner at 500 Global, a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies. He has led over 300 investments in startups across Southeast Asia. His team is recognized as a leading technology investor in the region having invested early in companies valued at over US$1 billion such as Grab, Carsome, Carousell, Bukalapak, FinAccel, and eFishery. Prior to 500, Khailee was the founder of Groupsmore (acquired by Groupon) and Malaysia’s largest online media company, Says.com (acquired by Media Prima).

As new technology and evolving consumer landscapes continue to disrupt industries, Khailee focuses on discovering patterns of economic opportunity and backing the entrepreneurs who realize them. His commentaries on industry trends have been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune.

Vishal Harnal is a Managing Partner at 500 Global, a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies.

He began his career in venture capital almost a decade ago, when he co-founded the firm’s Southeast Asia investment practice. That practice has invested in over 300 companies from early-stage to growth equity. Some early investments include Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB), Bukalapak (IDX: BUKA), Prenetics (NASDAQ: PRE), Carousell, Carsome, Gilmour Space, Stockbit, eFishery, among over 300 others.

Vishal is an active leader and patron of the VC ecosystem. He is a Kauffman Fellow and has taught VC programmes at Stanford, INSEAD and the Singapore-MIT Alliance. He sits on the expert panel of the Wealth Management Institute of Singapore, and is an office bearer at the Singapore Venture Capital Association. He co-founded The Unreasonable Podcast, a leading VC podcast in SE Asia, to help more people understand tech & startup investing. He actively speaks and advises on emerging trends and convergences in technology and humanity. His insights are regularly featured on premier networks such as Bloomberg, BBC and CNBC.

Prior to 500, Vishal practiced law at a top-tier firm where he specialized in resolving complex and high-stakes international investment, shareholder and political disputes. He is also no stranger to entrepreneurship, having built an education startup while in law school.

Santiago Zavala is a Managing Partner at 500 Global. He leads the thematic fund from 500 Global to invest in Spanish-speaking Latin America. As part of 500 Startups, since 2011, Santiago has participated in the more than 267 investments they have done in the region. His portfolio includes companies like Clip, 99 Minutos, Jüsto, Konfio, Ayenda, Baubap, Conekta, etc.

This companies have raised over $1B usd from downstream investors and have produced over 18000 jobs. Santiago is also involved with the Portfolio Value and Product initiatives at 500 Global that aim to support the 3000 global portfolio companies. He is also part of the investment committee of multiple corporate venture capital funds and is part of the advisory board of private and government institutions. Before joining 500 Global, Santiago co-founded Mexican.vc, had a software development career and participated in multiple software development communities. He continues to write code every week.

Paul Yoo is the CFO of 500 Global. In this position, Paul is responsible for the overall financial strategy and direction of the firm, overseeing the company’s financial functions including accounting, audit, treasury, fund finance and corporate finance. He is also instrumental in building 500’s data operations, which encompass 30 funds across multiple regions and verticals.

Prior to joining 500 Global, Paul was CFO at WizeLine, and also worked in the audit and assurance practice at Arthur Andersen. Throughout his 20+ year career in accounting, auditing and financial planning, he has established a reputation for building world-class teams, and for aligning financial and business metrics to support business strategy and high-growth.

Paul received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).