Axel Tan

Investment Director at Asia Ocean Fund

Speaker

Axel is a founding team member of the Asia Ocean Fund, serving as Investment Director and focused on backing start-ups building the future of the ocean economy and maritime technology across Asia.

Axel has over a decade of experience in direct investments and in manager selection. He has structured several VC funds and strategies across his career, and has achieved exits across IPO, acquisition, and trade sale. Through his global network, he originates and leads early to growth stage equity investments across climate, logistics and energy. He has built venture capital teams from the bottom up, partnering with corporates to scale start-ups and launch new ventures.

Prior to joining Octave Capital Asia Ocean Fund as Investment Director, Axel was Venture Partner at IMC Ventures and set up the Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund. He previously founded Momentum Venture Capital, a transport-focused corporate VC where the portfolio achieved IPO exits, early liquidity events, joint ventures, and ecosystem partnerships.

Beyond investing, Axel is an active mentor, angel investor, and speaker at venture and innovation forums. He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University.