William Klippgen

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William Klippgen
William Klippgen Portrait.jpg
William Klippgen in 2016
Born (1969-03-21) 21 March 1969 (age 55)
Trondheim, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Other namesWill Klippgen [1]
EducationMSc, MBA
Alma mater Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Boston University
INSEAD
Occupation(s) Entrepreneur, Investor, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital
OrganizationsCocoon Capital, Zoomit.com, Tigris Capital, BAF Spectrum, InseadAlumVentures
Television Angel's Gate (2012)

William Klippgen (born 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) is a Singapore-based Norwegian entrepreneur and technology venture capitalist who co-founded the price comparison portal Zoomit.com (later merged with Kelkoo, which was sold to Yahoo! in 2004). [2] [3] He served as one of the judges on the television series Angel's Gate, which was broadcast on Channel NewsAsia in 2012. [4] Klippgen is a co-founder and serves as the Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital. He holds an MBA from INSEAD where he is an Entrepreneur in Residence. [5]

Contents

He has invested in over 50 startups in Singapore and across the world since 2004. [6]

Early life and education

Klippgen holds an MSc degree in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, an MSc in Computer Engineering from Boston University (which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship), and an MBA from INSEAD Business School. [5]

Television work

Klippgen served as one of the judges on the reality TV series Angel's Gate, which began broadcasting on Channel NewsAsia in February 2012. The show gives budding entrepreneurs in Asia an opportunity to pitch business ideas to investors. Klippgen was one of four judges on the show alongside Patrick Grove (co-founder of the Catcha Group), Ken Mandel (Managing Director of Buddy Media Asia Pacific) and Karan Singh Thakral (Executive Director of the Thakral Group of Companies). [7]

Business career

Klippgen has been a company founder and investor since the early days of the Internet. [2] He founded Zoomit.com in 1997 with Per Siljubergsåsen. In 2000, Zoomit.com merged with Kelkoo to become a leading shopping comparison search engine and Europe's third-largest e-commerce site. Kelkoo was acquired by Yahoo! Inc in 2004. [8] [3] [9] Before starting his own company, he worked as a core tech engineer with U.S. search company Excite.com. [2] [9] He became an angel investor in Singapore in 2004 after he sold Kelkoo.com to Yahoo!. [2]

In 2003, Klippgen founded early-stage investment company Tigris Capital. He was one of the first investors in PropertyGuru in 2008. [2] In 2010, Tigris Capital was given the award for Best Performing VC/PE backed company by the Singapore Venture Capital Association for its successful investment in PropertyGuru.com. He also co-founded Singapore seed investment fund BAF Spectrum in 2006, which primarily invested in tech startups across Asia in a co-funding partnership with SPRING Singapore (a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore). Klippgen's equity stakes have typically been between 5 and 20%. [2]

In 2015, along with Deepak Shahdadpuri, Klippgen co-founded InseadAlum Ventures (IAV) that provides seed investments to startups founded by INSEAD alumni. [10] [11] [12]

In 2016, he teamed up with UK angel investor Michael Robert Blakey to launch Cocoon Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm targeting Southeast Asian enterprise tech startups within the e-commerce, SaaS, fintech and deep tech verticals. The firm has so far raised two funds with an AUM of US$27m. [8] [13] [14] [15]

In March 2019, Klippgen joined the Advisory Board of VNX Exchange, a Luxembourg-based secondary share platform. [16] He serves or has served on the boards of Tickled Media (theAsianparent.com), Anafore (ReferralCandy.com), [17] Mozat, Progeniq, [18] [19] Luxe Nomad (theLuxeNomad.com), [20] Poundit Global, [21] Lendela [22] and Augmentus.

He has been a columnist with Singapore Business Review [23] and has also been a director of Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia (BANSEA). [24] He holds a US patent on user identification and authentication. [25]

Public speaking & community work

Klippgen is a frequent speaker and judge at institutions like the National University of Singapore and the INSEAD Business School. [24] He has spoken at business events including Norway-Asia Business Summit, [26] Norwegian Business Association Singapore talks [27] and Tech Fest Vietnam. [28] He is an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD. [5]

TV shows

YearShow (s)ChannelCommentRef.
2012Angel's Gate Channel NewsAsia Season 1 [7]

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References

  1. ↑ Jain, Aashika (April 15, 2019). "This VC Firm has Set its Eyes on Building Startups in Southeast Asia. What Makes SEA the Hotbed for Investors?". Entrepreneur.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Iversen, Morten (December 9, 2018). "Da han gikk fra gründer til investor jobbet han mindre og tjente mer" (in Norwegian). Dagens Næringsliv.
  3. 1 2 Jakobsen, Johannes (April 5, 2018). "Norsk investor åpner nytt såkornsfond i Asia". Shifter.no (in Norwegian).
  4. ↑ So you want to be an entrepreneur?, channelnewsasia.com, 2 February 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "William Klippgen" (PDF). INSEAD. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  6. ↑ Hollis, Cheyenne (June 1, 2018). "A different approach to funding". Norway- Asian Business Review.
  7. 1 2 Regina T., Gwendolyn (June 8, 2011). "Pitching To Angels On TV With The Angel's Gate". Tech in Asia.
  8. 1 2 "Five questions for Cocoon Capital". The Straits Times. 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  9. 1 2 Lewell, John (September 5, 2000). "Zoomit.com Acquires Dutch Buyers' Guide". InterNetNews.
  10. ↑ Paul, Binu (January 10, 2017). "InseadAlum Ventures launches $700K fund to invest in Insead alumni startups". Techcircle.
  11. ↑ Choudhary, Anuradha (January 11, 2017). "Former INSEAD students set up fund to invest in alumni start-ups". Livemint.
  12. ↑ Farrell, Rachel (October 24, 2016). "Funding the next generation of entrepreneurs". alumnimagazine.insead.edu.
  13. ↑ Yon Heong Tung (December 7, 2016). "Cocoon Capital launches US$7M seed fund, targets SaaS, e-commerce, and fintech verticals". e27.
  14. ↑ Andreas Klemsdal (September 27, 2016). "Sender såkorn til Asia". Finansavisen (Norway).
  15. ↑ Kristie Neo (November 26, 2018). "SG's Cocoon Capital launches $20m second fund, eyes Vietnam, PH, Myanmar". e27.
  16. ↑ "VNX Exchange Appoints Michael Blakey, Will Klippgen to Advisory Board". Chronicle.lu. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  17. ↑ "Why choose ReferralCandy for your Referral Marketing Program". ReferralCandy — Give Any Ecommerce Store a Referral Program. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  18. ↑ Press release (April 11, 2008). "Progeniq Receives Financing from BAF Spectrum". HPCwire. Archived from the original on November 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  19. ↑ Gwendolyn Tan (April 14, 2010). "Progeniq gets Series A funding, engineering co-founder of Skype participates". SGEntrepreneurs.com. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  20. ↑ Joash Wee (June 12, 2012). "The Luxe Nomad, luxury traveling site by Stephanie Chai, closes investment from Tigris Capital at Echelon 2012". e27.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Filipino ecommerce site Poundit raises US$629,763 from Cocoon Capital". Reuters. September 15, 2017. Archived from the original on October 17, 2017.
  22. ↑ Quynh Nguyen (September 12, 2018). "Singapore's Cocoon Capital, IMO Ventures lead seed round in loan broker Lendela". DealStreetAsia.
  23. ↑ "What investors look for in tech start-ups". Singapore Business Review. September 28, 2012.
  24. 1 2 "Meet The VCs – Angel vs VC Investments". TheList.asia. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Process of Authenticating a User". Google Patents . Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Andreas Sohmen-Pao Confirms Participation". norcham.com. Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  27. ↑ "2014-11-18 NBAS Luncheon Talk: The Investment Scene in Singapore with Mr William Klippgen". nbas.org.sg. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  28. ↑ Mahdzar, Rizqina (April 16, 2015). "Tech Fest Vietnam 2015: Calling all Cambodian Startups!". GeeksInCambodia.
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