Gobi Partners was founded in 2002 by Thomas Tsao, Lawrence Tse, and Wai Kit Lau, three former employees of WI Harper, a San Francisco venture firm, who set out to build a genuinely Pan-Asian investment platform rather than a single-country fund. The firm has survived two regional shocks since founding - the SARS outbreak and the Global Financial Crisis - which Gobi credits for a resilience-first investment philosophy that still shapes its approach today. That philosophy has scaled into one of the most interconnected venture platforms in Asia: 16 offices spanning Greater China, Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and MENA, more than 400 startups backed across 20-plus funds, and four portfolio companies that have reached unicorn status - Carsome, Animoca Brands, Amber Group, and Prenetics - with roughly $2 billion currently under management.
Prenetics' 2023 Nasdaq listing via SPAC merger - one of four Gobi-backed companies to reach unicorn status, alongside Carsome, Animoca Brands, and Amber Group