Passions Abound

Asia centric Venture Firm nurturing
Luxurious and Upmarket
Creative, Lifestyle & Culinary concepts
thru meaningful + emotional connections

Founded by Artisans . For Artisans

Tel: 123.456.7890

Anchor 1

Proudly working alongside Businesses featured in....

We Offer

Co-Partnerships

Soulful is obsessed with journeying alongside Creative Founders to conceptualize, execute & scale Dreams and Visions.

Harness our talents, experience and connections to mold exciting ventures

Media & PR

Have a product but can't craft a compelling brand and story that connects emotionally with consumers? Or wanting to build great businesses through the power of Social Media for endless opportunities?

Lets craft magic together

Equity Investing

For the exceptional House seeking to leverage your strengths and soar to greater heights, Soulful could onboard as a shareholder or open doors to other Venture Funds

Go on, pitch us

Jointly with over 40 years of
Operational Excellence, Soulful has the Knowledge and Expertise to
Enable, Execute & Excite

We value Integrity, Emotional Connections,
Intrigue, Die-hard-Passion and Tenacity underscored by Creative Minds that conjure experiences which takes the breath away, built on a outlook that is never content with the status-quo

Join Up and Power On

SF Logo

Soulful: so-FULL /ʊ
/ˈsōlˌf(ə)l/

adjective:

(full)

1. Holding as much as possible; not leaving any empty space

2. Not lacking anything; A state of being complete

(soulful)

3. Expressing deep feelings and emotions

Represented by a Chinese Calligraphy styled logo to pay homage our Asian roots and heritage, Soulful's logo takes the shape of a dancer's balletic fluidity that elegantly camouflages her intense focus and sustained burst of passion and energy. She represents our every art, craft and movement as one of Vigor, Vitality, Grace and Purpose.

Hiding behind her form is the auspicious number "3" lying in plain sight through the subtle connecting of the head and body with a thin but vital line, for when it is the body moves with the mind, prosperity abounds as represented in the Chinese pronunciation of "3" as “升升", translated to mean Rise and Rising. As an investment firm, we seek for rising prosperity

for ourselves, our portfolio firms and limited partners.

For our Culinary Arts ventures, we want our patrons leaving us "so full and content"- as seen in the dancer's belly- and go home looking forward to our next hosting.

Meet the Team

Meet The Team

AL

Alvin Lin,
Managing Partner

CL

Candy Lee,
Partner, Luxury & Lifestyle

MN

Michael Ng,
Legal Counsel

Victor Chua,
Venture Advisor

VC

Team Values

Our Values and Priorities

The Founders of Soulful Ventures are first and foremost

Artists, Creatives, Fashion Designers and Culinarians

who admire talent and raw passions underscored by sound rational approaches toward sustainable growth.

Because partnering with Creative Talents goes beyond capital infusions, we are committed to investing the time and energy to understand, flow and grow with your treasured vision, just as we would have liked our investors to intimately know ours back in the day

As a Venture Capital firm that emphasizes disciplined growth and financial viability, our Partners' Artistic expressions are well supported by an intimate grasp of Financial concepts and realities and each member has been a crucial Manager and Team Member of financially successful entities.

SOULFUL VENTURES: YOUR SUCCESS ADVOCATES

Alvin Lin Profile

Alvin . Lin

Managing Partner, Investment Committee alvinlin@soulful.asia

Dreamer . Doer . Idealist . Realist

A paradox of Idealism and Pragmatism, Alvin's foray into the Creative Entrepreneurship began with his focus on Heritage Craft, leading him to found and helm Singapore's award winning bespoke luxury tailoring House "The Prestigious Bespoke" where he achieved multiple business awards and accolades, 80% gross margins that is significantly above industry averages and increased revenue and average ticketed price by five fold from inception. Despite the unprecedented challenges that COVID presented especially to the Fashion & Retail Industry, Alvin navigated the three year period with no redundancies or staff pay cut made.

Having successfully juggled the fine balance of interest amongst partners, staff artisans and patrons against business realities, he aggressively applies these invaluable skills, insights and resources to grooming other next-big-stars and heads Soulful's quest for new adventures and opportunities, and works with fellow Partners to break new ground. In addition to his quest at Soulful, Alvin is a Limited Partner with other Technology focused Venture firms.

An advocate for the Arts, Alvin was recognized as a Friend of the Arts by the National Arts Council (Singapore) on more than one occasion. He matriculated at Marquette, Harvard, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University for undergraduate through post-graduate diploma and degree programs.

Beyond business ventures, Alvin is also a Chef by training @ At-Sunrise Global Chef Academy and had the privilege of being a team member at Alma by Juan Amador, a Michelin One-Star establishment that specialized in "European cuisines with hearty Asian flavors"

ALVIN
LIN

Alvin Leong

Candy Lee

Candy . Lee

Partner, Luxury & Lifestyle candylee@soulful.asia

Artist, Fashion Designer, Tailor and Business Manager, Candy leads Soulful's Lifestyle divisions while overseeing all branding and marketing direction of managed entities across our portfolio while concurrently helming our in-House team of media creatives. Versatile in the Arts as she is with Business Management and Financials, Candy also holds a Post-Graduate Advanced Diploma in Trading and Value Investing awarded by Singapore Management University, enabling her to well position our entities for sustainability and growth.

Candy comes to Soulful through a promotional transfer from one of our managed firms where she was made Junior Partner, rising over a five years period from Apprentice to Partner. Her management capabilities, underscored by an ability to connect with peers and juniors while bridging the expectations and demands of senior partners and other stakeholders, is an exceptional asset in any creative space.

A successful artist herself, Candy's works have been featured and exhibited at independent art galleries and exhibitions in Mauritius. Candy graduated from LaSalle College of the Arts with a Bachelors (Honors) in Fashion Design & Textile.

CANDY
LEE

Michael . Ng

MICHAEL
NG

Michael . Ng

Legal Counsel, Investment Committee michaelng@soulful.asia

Soulful Ventures is pleased to retain Michael as its external counsel for its Investment Committee working on the Due Diligence and Structuring phases of work to safeguard and advance Soulful’s interests in its investment and operational spheres.

Michael is a director at Astute Legal LLC with significant experience advising startups and SMEs in both fundraising and operational matters, helping them to structure or restructure to be investment-ready. He is also experienced in representing a variety of clients in disputes across industries such as shipping, telecommunications, hospitality, private equity and private baking before the Singapore courts and in international arbitration.

Michael is also a full-time lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences School of Law where he leads the Equity & Trusts course and developed a Law and Emerging Technologies course. He has also published in the law and technology, trusts and arbitration spaces, and has been cited in the latest edition of the Dicey, Morris and Collins’ the Conflict of Laws.

Michael graduated summa cum laude with an LL.B and a B.BM from Singapore Management University in 2011, and ab LL.M (Distinction) from the London School of Economics in 2018.

Where Soulful’s portfolio companies or even third parties interacting with Soulful require legal advice, Michael will further be able to provide such professional advice independent of Soulful, subject to any conflicts of interest being waived. For the avoidance of doubt, Soulful does not provide any legal advice. Any legal advice can only follow from a separate engagement between the portfolio company or third party and Michael through Astute Legal LLC.

Victor Chua

Victor . Chua

Venture Advisor, Investment Committee victorchua@soulful.asia

A Forbes 30-under-30 personality, Victor is the Managing Partner of Vynn Capital- a Southeast Asia focused early stage venture capital investing in tech startups with notable portfolio inclusions such as Carsome, Travelio, Travelio and Dropee.

At Soulful, Victor brings to fore a wealth of knowledge, insight and experience in our deal making phase. Additionally, he adds a depth of perception when engaging portfolio companies to further enhance their operational efficiency, financial performance and strategic roadmaps.

Prior to Vynn Capital, Victor was the Vice President of Investments at Gobi Partners and was also at MAVCAP, the largest venture capital fund in Malaysia. He served as the Chairman of the Malaysian Venture Capital Association, and holds CFA charter and MENSA membership.

VICTOR
CHUA

What we do, We do Real Good...

Leverage on our in-House operational capabilities and successes in the realms of Branding, Marketing, Media and Financial Management, to further propel all that is good and transform your business into an Award Winning Market Leading experience

Our services are accessible as Fee-for-Hire, or Equity-in-Lieu where appropriate

Ops Execution

Branding & Storytelling

Benefit from Soulful's ownership and executional insights in market leading consumer brands to go beyond just visuals and uncover Designs that Deliver

From stunning aesthetics to landing the #1 spot in Whole Foods or Amazon, and rounding back to securing investments from VC firms,

let us craft the imageries, stories and emotions that land the right notes

First Foot . Right Feet

Media & Social Engagement

Fancy having the team that is credited for 6-digit monthly sales figures generated purely from ecommerce and social media channels without the fixed cost and liability of in-Housing that ideal team?

Go past clicks and talks about influencer impact and focus on results that puts food on the table

Business & Venture Advisory

Fund Raising goes beyond the beautiful pitch deck, a problem and a solution.

Staff your business with an entire team that itself seeks out and invests in successful projects to have the inside track

See what needs seeing

Know what needs knowing

Do what needs doing

& good flows from these simple truths

Execution Case

Although “The Prestigious” had been established decades back, and notwithstanding its's Master Tailor's esteemed professional standing within the local tailoring community, the House ran as a traditional small business and received scant media attention nor large consumer following

Soulful Venture’s full equity ownership stake in a newly revamped “The Prestigious Bespoke” brought Master Tailor Thomas Wong’s repute into the public domain and he, together with the House, became well known and highly regarded among its patrons, and became regularly featured in broadsheet media and high society publications

The Prestigious Bespoke has been profitable since launch especially with Soulful Ventures significantly enhancing The Prestigious Bespoke's performance across a multitude of financial matrix

IMPACT ANALYSIS

01

Front Page in Broadsheet Media & Features in High Society publications

From the moment The Prestigious Bespoke was re-launched, Singapore’s main broadsheet press - The Straits Times- profiled Thomas and the House in a Three full page feature, with Front-page prominence.

That year alone, the House, and its industry pioneering Apprenticeship Program was featured in over 12 luxury, societal, lifestyle and broadsheet publications. It is consistently accorded Singapore Tatler's "Best of Singapore (Best Bespoke Tailoring House)" through the inception of the award category.

Relying entirely on the good name of the House, the dedication to craft and commitment to the Apprenticeship program, The Prestigious Bespoke never had to pay for media feature nor did it engage any external PR or media firm for advisory or services.

02

Multiples in Revenue and Average Retail transacted price + Low Operating Cost & High Margins

Benefiting from the success achieved in Branding and Media features and its unique proposition to all stakeholders enabled The Prestigious Bespoke to maintain under-market cost structure(s) buoyed by above-market revenue streams.

Remarkably, The Prestigious engineerd:

Average ticketed price of suits @ $7,500;
3-5x above peer pricing for identical items;
Gross profit margins in excess of 83%;
Regular sales of [single] suits at 5-digit range;
Year-on-Year increase in Annual Turnover even during 2021 after toughest COVID polices were relaxed;
<20% staff turn-over
In-House production system granting significant cost advantage

03

Industry Awards & Accolades

Honored for the impact made on the retail scene in Singapore through innovation, creativity and retail excellence, The Prestigious beat other well established regional and international brands to garner the Singapore Retail Association Retail Award 2017 (Best New Entrant).

Winners of other categories during that year included Victoria's Secret, Changi International Airport and Ion Orchard.

As a further mark in recognition of Thomas Wong's Mastery of Craft, and our commitment to contributing significantly to skill development in others, Thomas was a Pioneering Recipient of the SkillsFuture Fellowship award presented by the President of Singapore and also awarded a monetary prize of $10,000 to continue his pursuit of skills mastery.

04

COVID Response

Despite COVID having hard hit retailers, and tailors especially, the cumulation of Quality, Renown and Financial Discipline throughout the years enabled The Prestigious Bespoke to:

Re-affirm its committment towards formal business wear without resorting to a new casual line nor nurture new consumer segment through the COVID period . It was the only tailor who did not resort to pivoting to casual wear during this period;
Maintain First-quarter year-on-year growth of 39 and 45 percent compared to 2020 and 2019 respectively;
Generate our monthly sales average on March 27 2021 alone (the weekend following relaxing of some COVID measures), with the highest commission being for a $14,000 suit;
Maintain sales of $7,000 to $40,000 per commission in February and March 2021;
No staff redundancies + Maintained staff salary annual increase through the entire two year period

The team at Soulful Ventures have been nurturing, and worked on enhancing the experience and standards for our clients. They are always open to listening to my ideas on my own label and are nothing but full of support, and continue to pass on leads and share their advice on our endeavors.

I am confident that Soulful will be able to provide guidance and that magic spark and push at times when you are facing road blocks in your own business.

-Sheryl Yeo, Founder, 3eighth

www.3eighth.co/

SF Equity

Early Partner + Guiding Star

Soulful Ventures seeks Small & Medium businesses run by ethical, passionate founders. We are interested in artisans who take great pride in their work and consequently, craft exquisite, innovative or exclusive upmarket and luxurious works and experiences, and we are happy to explore a wide spectrum of goods, services and industries where you excel in. Although you do not necessarily need to be profitable, we would love to see robust sales or at the very least a completed prototype, and ideally a business or plan with potentially healthy margins

Soulful invests in the early stages of a business. We partake in pre-Seed, Seed and series-A funding rounds and our cheque size for pre-Seed and Seed rounds is between $10,000 - $500,000 while our portfolio companies close their Seed or series-A at the $10M - $45M valuation range

We generally do not directly invest into technology or tech-enabled firms, preferring to deploy our funds as Limited Partners through third party technology focused venture capital firms , but would be happy to make the necessary connections when a compelling opportunity presents itself

Pitch Us

Soulful Investment Snapshot

Soulful is an Asia centric venture firm with operational expertise in this region. We see our ability to significantly value add to businesses in asia especially where active management is beneficial.

We however, set no geographical limitations as to where portfolio firms focus their energies and will equally consider all non-Asian opportunities.

USA

Vietnam

Singapore

What we like to see

or typically do

Minimum Revenue within last 12months:
$50,000 (managed business); $500,000 (portfolio firms)
Gross Margins: >50%
Net Margins: >20%
Minimum Check size: $10,000
Largest Check Size: $500,000
Stage: Early, pre-Seed, Seed and Series-A
Commitment as Limited Partner in VC Firms: 6-digits

Q1, 2023 Commitments

Overview

Total Managed Firms/ Portfolio Companies invested in: 05
Third Party VC firms invested in: 01
$150,000 average investment check size
6 digit funding commitment to VC firm
$10M - $36M valuation cap
$2-5M annual revenue
Instruments: Equity, Convertible Note, SAFE

Sectors of Interest

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Healthy Food & Beverage
Ready-to-Eat Foods
Direct-to-Consumer category
Personal Beauty & Care
Pet Care Products & Services
Education & Ecommerce
Consumer Goods + Luxury & Lifestyle category
Luxury Fine Dining
Casual Dining
Innovative Fashion / Outdoor & Apparel

Pitch Us

Portfolio

Designed to Last

Soulful provides Patient Seed & Growth Capital to Purpose-driven, Disciplined and Passionate Founders focused on building exceptional business

THIS IS PART OF WHO WE ARE

ACTIVE PORTFOLIO

Revolutionizing space technologies since 2002

SpaceX

Revenue: USD$4.6 Billion in 2022, Est of USD$8 for 2023
Profit: USD$55 Million profit on $1.5Billion quarterly revenue for Q1, 2023 Est Valuation: $154 Billion
Terms: Common Stock

https://www.spacex.com/