Partnerships Lead

About us

Wavemaker is Southeast Asia's leading VC firm investing in Enterprise,Deep Tech, and Sustainability startups. Since 2012, we have backed over 200 companies across multiple funds, guided by our thesis:

We invest in trustworthy & curious founders who have built conviction through experience and industry insights, and identified large opportunities because they see the world differently.

We invest in scalable, capital-efficient, defensible businesses that solve meaningful problems 10x better than existing options.

Where are we headed?

With trust as our North Star, we aim to go farther together. We're in the business of investing in people, and we strive to attract and work with exceptional individuals who share our values and mission.

What you'll do

This role sits at the intersection of Wavemaker, our portfolio startups, and ecosystem partners — generating capital for Wavemaker and its portfolio companies, and connecting startups and corporates to accelerate outcomes for both.

Fundraising

• Generate top-of-funnel capital candidates for Wavemaker across all fund strategies
• Generate top-of-funnel capital candidates for managed portfolio companies, from both financial and strategic investors
• Surface and advance fundraising conversations as a natural extension of the broader relationship-building work

Corporate Partnerships & Portfolio Value Creation

• Develop a deep understanding of Wavemaker's portfolio companies, including growth drivers, strategic gaps, and potential exit pathways
• Identify and map corporate ecosystem partners that can accelerate portfolio traction, fundraising, and exit
• Facilitate strategic introductions between portfolio companies and corporates that may become customers, lenders, co-investors, or acquirers
• Secure commercial contracts for portfolio companies from corporates

Corporate Ecosystem Mapping and Development

• Build and maintain a structured map of corporate ecosystem players relevant to Wavemaker's investment themes and portfolio needs
• Develop and nurture executive-level relationships with key decision-makers across corporate partners

Scaled Exits Support

• Support the scaled-exits effort to liquidate assets from non-fund-returners in older funds, contributing to Distributed to Paid-In (DPI) performance
• Apply financial literacy to assess asset value and viable exit routes for these positions

Project Management

• Partner closely with the General Partner to drive execution across active partnership, fundraising, and DPI workstreams
• Bring structure and rigor to a fast-moving, relationship-heavy pipeline, ensuring nothing valuable is lost between an introduction and its outcome

Who you are

• You have 8+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, venture capital, investment banking, consulting/corporate strategy, or a related ecosystem-facing role.
• You are a hunter: you have a track record of generating and closing capital relationships — from your own network, from cold outreach, or through structured fundraising processes — not just facilitating warm introductions.
• You have deep financial literacy, including comfort assessing and structuring the liquidation of assets from older fund vintages (scaled exits / DPI).
• You have been deeply embedded across founders, operators, and corporates, with a track record as a trusted connector in the ecosystem.
• You have a strong understanding of and curiosity towards business models and commercial drivers, in order to pitch opportunities credibly (both to startups and corporates).
• You are commercially minded, with a strong instinct for identifying and activating opportunities that create tangible outcomes.
• You are highly adaptable and can operate across multiple priorities and evolving scope with ownership and accountability.
• You are a strong communicator with executive presence and the ability to engage senior stakeholders effectively.
• You are relationship-driven and genuinely motivated to help founders and corporate partners succeed.