About Us
About
Ignite
Elev8 is Singapore’s premier early-stage deep tech VC fund, and Ignite is how we work with founders before they’re ready for traditional investment.
The connection is intentional – instead of just writing checks to already-formed companies, Elev8 invests in the relationship first through Ignite’s founder development programme. If there’s strong alignment after the 4 sessions, Elev8 can then become your first institutional investor upon incorporation.
About
Jia Hong
& Remi
Ignite started as an experiment from Elev8’s Fund 1, where there were four startups that were typically too early for Elev8, but the team saw potential. Instead of passing on the round, Elev8 joined the earlier round with smaller quantums.
Over 12-18 months, Elev8 offered the same level of industry access and support, helping founders progress their science from lab to customers from industry. Upon reaching commercial milestones, the startups were then considered for Elev8’s standard seed round investments, with ticket sizes starting from 500k.
The visible success led to the formalising of Elev8 Ignite, and the hiring of Jia Hong as a dedicated investment and programme manager, to develop Ignite as Elev8’s pre-seed investment function.
The Elev8 Ignite Team
Remi Choong
Programme Director
Remi is a Partner of Elev8.vc, Singapore’s premier early-stage deep tech VC fund. He founded three companies before kickstarting his venture capital career at a sovereign VC fund. As one of the most experienced deep-tech investors in the region, Remi has personally closed deep-tech deals across technology verticals such as quantum computing, air mobility, space-tech, biotech, and autonomous vehicles. A number of these companies have made successful exits through the years.
Shaw Jia Hong
Programme Manager
Shaw Jia Hong is the Programme Manager of Elev8 Ignite, where he designs and leads a founder-first approach to venture building. With a deep belief that building startups begins with building people, Jia Hong created Ignite to serve deep tech founders at their earliest and most vulnerable stage — before incorporation, before business models, before pitches.
His work centers on introspection, authenticity, and humanistic development. Through carefully crafted workshops and frameworks like the Founder-Product-Team-Market Fit, he helps researchers and engineers navigate the profound personal transformation required to become founders. Jia Hong believes the hardest person to lead is yourself, and that honest self-awareness is the foundation of sustainable venture creation.
Our Team
Remi Choong
Programme Director
Remi is a Partner of Elev8.vc, Singapore’s premier early-stage deep tech VC fund. He founded three companies before kickstarting his venture capital career at a sovereign VC fund. As one of the most experienced deep-tech investors in the region, Remi has personally closed deep-tech deals across technology verticals such as quantum computing, air mobility, space-tech, biotech, and autonomous vehicles. A number of these companies have made successful exits through the years.
Shaw Jia Hong
Programme Manager
Shaw Jia Hong is the Programme Manager of Elev8 Ignite, where he designs and leads a founder-first approach to venture building. With a deep belief that building startups begins with building people, Jia Hong created Ignite to serve deep tech founders at their earliest and most vulnerable stage — before incorporation, before business models, before pitches.
His work centers on introspection, authenticity, and humanistic development. Through carefully crafted workshops and frameworks like the Founder-Product-Team-Market Fit, he helps researchers and engineers navigate the profound personal transformation required to become founders. Jia Hong believes the hardest person to lead is yourself, and that honest self-awareness is the foundation of sustainable venture creation.
Jia Hong comes from a background of product management at Blackrock, and investments at a VC Fund. He founded Turn Off Turn On Ventures in 2021, building a personal global portfolio of DeepTech climate solutions, including battery materials and carbon capture. He has experience coaching and training early stage founders, having delivered workshops, bootcamps and lectures in over 8 countries. He is also the founder of Founder Daycare, a Pay-It-Forward community programme prioritising founder’s mental health.
Ignite Fellows
Elev8.vc is supported by our broad network of specialists in their fields. Participants of the Ignite Programme and our Ignite Portfolio founders get access to deep expertise and experience of a specially assembled team of industry superstars, known as our Ignite Fellows:
Charlene Teo
Mindset and Executive Coach
Darren Tan
Battery industry specialist and founder of Unigrid Battery
Gabriel Lim
YC graduate and exited SaaS founder, Founder of Blue Whale Energy
Ignite Fellows
Elev8.vc is supported by our broad network of specialists in their fields. Participants of the Ignite Programme and our Ignite Portfolio founders get access to deep expertise and experience of a specially assembled team of industry superstars, known as our Ignite Fellows:
Charlene Teo
Mindset and Executive Coach
Darren Tan
Battery industry specialist and founder of Unigrid Battery
Gabriel Lim
YC graduate and exited SaaS founder, Founder of Blue Whale Energy