Edgar Hardless, CEO of Singtel Innov8, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.


Startup activity may have slowed down in much of Southeast Asia, but Singtel Innov8, the strategic investment arm of telecommunications firm Singtel, has stayed active under the leadership of CEO Edgar Hardless.
“We closed 11 investments in the past year,” says Hardless. “One of the key focus areas for us was definitely AI, and that is something that is going to continue into the current financial year.
“My view is that 2025 is the year when a lot of large enterprises are going to shift from experimenting with AI to large-scale deployments of AI. During the past 12 months, we have been investing in companies that help provide tools and capabilities to help enterprises accelerate their adoption of AI.”
Singtel Innov8 targets AI, 5G, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, data privacy and communication technologies, and it stands out among its regional peers by investing internationally, operating out of hubs in San Francisco, Beijing and Israel, as well as Southeast Asia. Hardless says it is crucial to look not just at a startup but its sector and how it could be impacted by an increasingly tumultuous macroeconomic environment.
“The ability to take a step back and take that helicopter view…has been very important for us as we have made our investments”
“The ability to take a step back and take that helicopter view, not just focus on the particular company we are looking at, but take a broader picture of the industry and macroeconomic factors, has been very important for us as we have made our investments,” he says.
This year will mark Singtel Innov8’s 15th anniversary under Hardless, who was already overseeing strategic investments for Singtel when the unit was formed. A voracious reader who is always keeping track of where technology is heading, he credits corporate VC’s capacity for knowledge gathering with keeping the job feeling fresh.
“This has probably been one of the most enjoyable jobs I have had, because every day I am learning something new,” he says. “For example, I was getting a brief today on quantum computing, what it means and what the potential implications are. That fascinates me, there are very few jobs where you get to learn new things every day. That has really kept me motivated.”

The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.