Founder Spotlight: How Arkadiah and Advance Intelligence Group tapped Singapore's entrepreneurial and diverse talent pool for rapid growth

• Founders Reuben Lai of Arkadiah and Jefferson Chen of Advance Intelligence Group have turned passion into purpose through building ventures powered by Singapore’s highly skilled talent workforce
• Arkadiah’s multinational and multidisciplinary team in Singapore is driving its early-stage startup growth, through the in-house development of AI-driven ClimaTech solutions and collaborations with research institutions
• Over a fifth of Advance Intelligence Group’s global team is based in Singapore, with senior leadership across operations, product development, and technology, while young, entrepreneurial local talent are taking the Group’s FinTech and AI ventures globally

Two startups in Singapore – Arkadiah Technology and Advance Intelligence Group – are charting unique paths across different industries, united by a common mission: to create positive societal impact through technology. The founders have harnessed Singapore’s entrepreneurial spirit and global talent pool to establish their ventures within the city’s thriving startup ecosystem. 

Singaporean Reuben Lai, co-founder and CEO of ClimaTech company Arkadiah, began his career in management consulting, where he helped businesses develop growth and optimisation strategies. While Reuben found the work rewarding, he realised his true passion lay in using business innovation to solve societal issues and improve people’s lives, especially for future generations. This realisation was what drew him to Grab, where he rose to lead the company’s finance arm to build financial products for underbanked and underserved communities in Southeast Asia.

His time at Grab was where his vision for impacting future generations took shape – by tackling climate change. “Seeing first-hand how technology can create positive change at scale was a powerful experience,” he reflects. “Both the financial and climate sectors present unique challenges that technology can solve – in finance, it's about inclusion and access; in climate, it's about efficiency and integrity. ClimaTech has the power to revolutionise transparency, traceability, and trust, propelling us toward massive environmental progress in this climate crisis. It is an immense challenge, but one I'm intent on tackling to create a sustainable future.”

Reuben founded Arkadiah in Singapore in 2023 to address the industry challenge of ineffective carbon accounting, with a mission to establish the largest nature technology platform to support nature restoration across Southeast Asia and help companies value and steward natural capital. 

“There are too few nature-based projects in Asia due to the lack of capital and regulation. The capital bottleneck reflects an underlying need for evidence-based carbon accounting. With Arkadiah’s rigorous science-based approach, our aim is to provide accurate data that will enable smarter decision-making and credibility in carbon markets,” says Reuben.

Arkadiah’s proprietary technology uses AI, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), satellite imagery and ground truthing to provide transparent and verifiable data, leading to precise carbon measurement. The platform digitises and streamlines the deployment of climate solutions for project developers, landowners, and corporations.

Jefferson Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Advance Intelligence Group, followed a similar path of self-discovery to uncover the potential of technology for positive societal impact. The Group comprises consumer financing platform Atome Financial, and enterprise fraud and risk management solution provider ADVANCE.AI – AI-powered core businesses that drive fairer access to credit and greater financial and digital inclusion for the underserved in ASEAN. 

Jefferson's journey began with his work in investment banking in Hong Kong and the US, followed by roles in private equity and venture capital. He was an early witness to the disruptive potential of tech and AI in finance and, as a Computer Science graduate, realised he could use his academic and professional experience to empower millions who lack access to financial services in Southeast Asia.

A chance encounter with a former colleague led to an opportunity in alternative credit scoring for a large bank in Indonesia, laying the foundation for what would become ADVANCE.AI, the first business unit under Advance Intelligence Group.

Advance continued to innovate across multiple fronts, as Jefferson and his founding team recognised broader market needs. “The evolution of Advance Intelligence Group was borne out of a strong customer-centric mindset and following the natural path of addressing the challenges of our partners and customers to access credit and basic financial services,” he reflects.

While managing risk for financial institutions, the team found a demand for customer acquisition and lifecycle management. They launched digital credit platform Kredit Pintar to cater to underbanked segments in Indonesia, then expanded into the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) space by launching a new business Atome in Singapore, responding to retailers' needs to integrate financial services seamlessly into their checkout processes.

Strategic Talent Access within a Conducive Ecosystem

For both founders, establishing their companies' headquarters in Singapore was primarily driven by the opportunity to access the right talent within a conducive ecosystem.

Arkadiah boasts an interdisciplinary Singapore-based team of experts from various fields such as ecology, technology, and finance, hailing from cultures across Singapore, India, Germany, Sweden, and the USA. Reuben believes this multinational team, with their global perspectives and specialised capabilities, has given the company a competitive edge in addressing environmental challenges holistically. 

“Professionals in Singapore are highly skilled with transferable competencies that can pivot into new growth industries like ours. With the nascent green economy and climate tech space in Asia, there is currently a limited pool of talent with direct experience in these areas. However, talent-friendly policies in Singapore have also contributed to the rise of a diverse workforce that is highly skilled across multiple fields, which means we can upskill and cross-train professionals from complementary domains,” says Reuben.

Dr Deepthi Chimalakonda, Head of Carbon & Ecology at Arkadiah is one such professional. An ecologist and wildlife biologist, she also has some experience in software development and brought her diverse competencies to Arkadiah. “Coming from an academic background, I was seeking opportunities for challenging and impactful work centred around nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration,” shares Deepthi.

Deepthi, who oversees the entire lifecycle of Arkadiah’s portfolio of carbon projects, highlights how operating out of Singapore fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. “Singapore is known as a regional leader in sustainability with generous support for climate startups. Thanks to the city’s supportive and nurturing environment, working here allows us to engage daily with professionals from diverse fields spanning technology, science, business, and social sciences background.”

At Advance Intelligence Group, most of the company’s function leads and management teams are based in its office in Singapore’s central business district. It has been headquartered in Singapore for the past eight years, with its local team comprising a fifth of its total employee count. 

The Group’s Singapore HQ operations evolved over time, emphasising the growth of its commercial functions and lead product and engineering teams, as the company reached unicorn status in less than a decade. “We found what worked best for us was to have key leadership hires based in Singapore. The Singapore leadership team provides strategic direction, while the regional team focuses on execution. This collaborative approach has proven productive, especially as developing AI-driven financial products is a highly iterative process,” he adds.

Much like Jefferson’s experience in being part of the rise of technology in finance, he has seen Singapore’s tech ecosystem mature accordingly. “Over the years, as the startup and tech ecosystem has flourished, Singapore's stable business and political landscape, combined with its access to quality schools and high standard of living, has both nurtured and attracted top entrepreneurial talent and their families. As our presence is primarily in Southeast Asia and Greater China, there’s no better place to grow a global fintech venture than Singapore.”

It has been incredibly rewarding to work with people who are passionate, smart and creative, and be given a chance to lead a team in a new venture while solving real-world problems. Being part of Atome's journey from a concept on paper to the leading BNPL payment method in Singapore is an experience you wouldn't easily find on traditional career paths.” 

Bryan is now General Manager of Atome Singapore and spearheads its growth in the country. Under Bryan’s leadership, Atome has grown to over a million users in Singapore and partners with thousands of merchants on its platform.

“For an entrepreneur like me, attracting this kind of talent with a strong growth mindset is what makes Singapore an attractive place to grow a business,” says Jefferson.

A Partnerships-Led Model for Future Growth

While Reuben and Jefferson are confident about the pivotal role their companies will play in furthering industry growth, the two founders stress how both local and global partnerships will continue to be key. 

Jefferson and his team have invested significantly in partnerships to deepen their understanding of local markets and create accompanying solutions. For example, Atome Financial collaborates with banking partners like Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC to increase mobile-first financial and digital inclusivity for the region’s underbanked and underserved consumers. 

Reuben of Arkadiah similarly believes in partnering with external expertise to complement his in-house team. The startup is collaborating with the NUS Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) to leverage satellite technology to accurately quantify forest carbon stocks.

“The climate crisis we are facing now is a planetary existential problem that requires all of humanity to come together to solve it. We envision Singapore as not just a test bed for innovation, but a leading hub driving climate tech and green financing. There is so much potential to be built, and we remain committed to pursue innovation relentlessly, establishing partnerships and growing a customer-centric team with a mindset geared towards global growth,” says Reuben.

This article is part of a series spotlighting serial entrepreneurs around the world building new ventures from Singapore. Read the first part featuring Caesar Sengupta of Arta Finance and Mark Luo of Spark Education.

If you’re an experienced founder looking to build your next venture in Singapore, register your interest at https://go.gov.sg/globalfoundersopen.