AdzCentral, with USD 4M in funding, hires digital media quartet with over 70 years experience

Singapore startup AdzCentral, which is building an online targeted media buying platform, has made a string of hires after its recent USD 3.2M Series A round raised from Electric Sheep Capital and Digital Media Partners. The new executives have previous stints at companies such as Yahoo!, Living Social, NBC, and Deutsche Bank. Read more

Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs: ‘Bye, bye, China’

Marc van der Chijs, a serial entrepreneur who has been in China for 13 years, has moved to Vancouver three weeks ago. Marc is best known as the co-founder of Chinese video sharing site Tudou.

More recently, he founded and invested in unitedstyles, a site that allows users to design, share, and buy their fashion items. He also became a partner at CrossPacific Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in American or Canadian companies which have an eye on Asia. Read more

Hari Krishnan, LinkedIn’s first Asia-Pacific employee, is now managing director for Asia-Pacific and Japan

Professional social network LinkedIn announced today that it has appointed a new managing director for Asia-Pacific and Japan. He is Hari Krishnan, the company’s first Asia Pacific employee who joined in 2009.

Now based in LinkedIn’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, the veteran tech executive and entrepreneur was formerly LinkedIn’s country manager for India. In his three years there, he set up operations from the ground up and grew the social network’s presence from 3.4M registered users in November 2009 to over 18M in December 2012. Read more

Microsoft appoints Singaporean Haresh Khoobchandani to lead Thai operations

Singaporean Haresh Khoobchandani, a Microsoft veteran, is now in charge of operations in Thailand, a company press released announced. The new managing director of Microsoft Thailand is replacing Birathon Kasemsri Na Ayudhaya.

Haresh has over 15 years of experience in the company. Before his current appointment, he was the COO for Microsoft Indonesia, where he helped the subsidiary achieve over 30% growth. He was also the CMO for the Asia Pacific Consumer & Online business, as well as Senior Director for various portfolios across Singapore, Malaysia, and Asia Pacific.

He is said to possess a strong track record in sales, marketing, and leadership of large teams.

Haresh’s predecessor, Birathon, set the vision of Microsoft Thailand to improve the lives of 70 million citizens through technology.

He helped the subsidiary win a CSR award from the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. It was recognized for the BETTER project, which raised IT literacy among the Thai workforce, and for rallying customers, partners, and employees to help the country recover from the flood crisis.

Birathon was also in charge of the Windows 8 launch in Thailand.

Michael Yap steps down as deputy CEO of Singapore’s MDA

Michael Yap, deputy CEO of the goverment’s Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), and executive director of the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO), has left the organization to pursue his personal interests.

The IDMPO is an inter-agency outfit that runs iJAM, a microfunding and mentorship scheme for startups.

Mr Yap will be replaced by Yeo Chun Cheng, the current assistant chief executive of industry at MDA. Before joining the organization, Mr Yeo had a 20-year IT industry stint. He had worked in Silicon Valley, heading several engineering departments at different startups.

At the same time, Lim Chin Siang has been appointed director of IDMPO and will assist Mr Yeo in the running of the Office and its programs. He will have approving authority for current projects under i.JAM incubators.

Andy Zain, director of The Founder Institute Jakarta, joins mig33 as executive director

Mig33, a social entertainment platform company headquartered in Singapore, has welcomed a new executive director, serial entrepreneur Andy Zain. He joined mig33 in August. Read more

PayPal hires Lawrence Chan as VP of Asia Pacific New Ventures and GM of Southeast Asia, India

PayPal has announced today the hiring of Lawrence Chan as the company’s vice president for Asia Pacific New Ventures and general manager for Southeast Asia and India.

Based in Singapore, Lawrence will head the regional business strategy, sales, partnerships, and merchant adoption of PayPal’s payment solutions in the mobile and digital space. He will also lead the expansion of PayPal’s geographical reach.

One of the products he will be pushing is PayPal Here, the company’s mobile credit card reader, now available in Hong Kong, Australia, US, and Canada.  Read more

Jayesh Parekh joins Jungle Ventures as a managing partner to help firm grow investment portfolio

Investor and entrepreneur Jayesh Parekh has joined Jungle Ventures, an early stage VC firm, as one of its managing partners.

The Singapore-based firm, which also operates a seed fund and incubator, has been undergoing a process of team building, with the aim of making 10 to 15 investments in 2013. That’s a step up from the 4 to 5 companies it has been funding annually. It will zoom in on the following countries: Singapore, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. Read more

Ex-eBay marketing director Todd Kurie joins Singapore’s RedMart.com

RedMart.com, a Singapore-based online marketplace for household essentials, announced today that Todd Kurie, the former Director of Marketing at eBay and most recently VP Marketing at MyCube, has joined the startup as VP of Marketing. Read more

Bubble Motion hires noted developer Justin Mann as new Chief Architect

Singapore-based mobile social communication company Bubble Motion has hired Justin Mann, former senior development manager at Microsoft, as its new Chief Architect.

Prior to joining Bubble Motion, he was the CEO and co-founder of How to Raise a Superhero, a startup in Beijing that builds educational apps for kids. He is a developer with over 12 years of experience in product development and management. Read more