- 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.”