Why Asian Start-ups Outside China Matter: Bernard Moon on innovation in South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam

EPISODE 1477: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to SparkLabs Group co-founder Bernard Moon about the latest innovation in South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam

Bernard Moon is a Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Group, which is a network of accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in over 350 companies across 6 continents since 2013. With 8 accelerators in locations such as Seoul, Taipei, Sydney, Singapore and working with major research universities, such as Arizona State University. SparkLabs Global Ventures is a seed and Series A fund that primarily invests in the U.S. and Asia. SparkLabs Ventures is a Series A fund in South Korea. Bernard was previously Co-founder & CEO of Vidquik, a web conferencing & sales solutions platform, and continues to serve as an advisor and board director. Previously, he was Managing Director of the Lunsford Group, which is a private investment firm consisting of entities in technology, health care, and real estate. He was Co-founder and VP of Business Development at GoingOn Networks, a social media platform for companies. He led their product development where BusinessWeek recognized GoingOn in their "Best of the Web" list for 2007. Bernard is also a guest writer to various technology journals, such as VentureBeat, Mashable, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb. Prior to this, Bernard was a Director at iRG, a leading boutique investment bank in Asia. Prior to iRG, Bernard was Co-founder & VP of Business Development & Marketing at HeyAnita Korea, a leading voice portal and solutions provider, which was joint venture between Softbank and HeyAnita, Inc. Bernard was responsible for establishing strategic partnerships and helping to build the company from its conceptual stage to a 54-person operation. 

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.He serves on the advisory boards to Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Data Science and Nanyang Technological University’s EcoLabs (Centre of Innovation for Energy), and sits on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross of Silicon Valley.