Top 50 Rising Stars 2022 (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Will Fung, senior associate, Samsung Catalyst Fund
Will Fung is a senior associate at South Korea-based electronics manufacturer Samsung’s $500m evergreen corporate venture capital (CVC) vehicle Samsung Catalyst Fund, working in a team focused on AI, automotive, data centre infrastructure, internet-of-things and device-level technologies.
Fung said: “Being part of a CVC, especially at the scale and brand of Samsung, offers exposure to startups that are innovating in various industries. Partnering with entrepreneurs who are trying to make an impact in the world is very fulfilling, while helping them reach the global scale together with Samsung makes it even more rewarding.
“I have had the privilege of investing in startups working in multiple industries, such as hardware and software artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise software, and robotics. The most memorable investments that I was involved with were BabbleLabs and IonQ, both of which have been successful exits. An innovator in speech enhancement using AI, BabbleLabs was acquired by Cisco. Quantum computing pioneer and leader, IonQ became a publicly traded company earlier this year.”
Chris Chu, vice-president and managing director of Samsung Catalyst Fund, said: “Will has helped shaped Samsung Catalyst Fund’s investment theses in automotive and autonomous systems as well as contributed to the team’s deep understanding of diverse domains as robotics and quantum computing.
“In addition, Will works closely with portfolio companies’ CEOs and Samsung business unit team members. The Samsung Catalyst Fund team looks forward to building upon Will’s continued success in the corporate venture capital world.”
Before Samsung, Fung worked in product management and design engineering at Kovio, a printed silicon electronics platform since acquired by Thin Film Electronics, working on designing, managing, developing and marketing near-field communications and radio-frequency identification products.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
