Monsoon Ventures Head of Commercialisation Justin McMurray with Gayathri Gopal and Joel Kam during their first week at Monsoon Ventures.
Monsoon Ventures is pleased to welcome two new members to the Singapore team, joining Justin Ahmed - Head of Monsoon Ventures, William Taing - Director, Justin McMurray - Head of Commercialisation, and Anna Tao - Senior Venture Builder.
Gayathri Gopal joins as Venture Lead and Joel Kam joins as Portfolio Success Lead, and both are starting in time for Singapore Agri-Food Innovation Week, where they will be connecting with stakeholders from across the region's agrifood sector.
Beanstalk AgTech launched Monsoon Ventures because a great deal of promising agricultural science in Southeast Asia stalls before it reaches farmers. Many science-led founders are working without a commercial team, value chain partners or capital suited to the stage their venture has reached. The studio model addresses this by pairing founders with commercial expertise, building a route to market around specific partners and acquirers, and matching each venture with blended capital. The two new roles cover different stages of that work: Gaya will focus on shaping new ventures as they move from technology to business, and Joel will support founders from first investment through to scale.
Joel, Gaya and Beanstalk Senior Project Leader Andrea Coello visit urban mushroom producer Spore Gardens in Singapore.
Gayathri Gopal, Venture Lead
Gaya is a venture builder and innovation strategist with more than a decade of experience turning emerging opportunities into commercially viable businesses. At Monsoon she will work with founders on validating their ventures, shaping their business models and building the partnerships they need to reach market.
She brings experience from both sides of venture building. As VP Venture Build at ENGIE Factory, she led portfolio commercialisation and served as interim CEO for two funded ventures. She also helped establish and grow Board of Innovation's APAC team, and has advised organisations including Nestlé, Cargill, Olam and Kimberly-Clark on innovation strategy and new business development. Having founded three companies herself, she understands the practical decisions founders face as they build.
Gaya sees a large opportunity in the technology being developed across the region.
"In my experience, the magic happens when you bring together the right commercialisation approach, strong partnerships and capital that fits each stage of a venture's journey. Too often, ventures are shaped to fit a particular funding model, which can cut short ideas that deserve a chance to grow. Monsoon brings impact, patient capital and thoughtful commercialisation together, and I'm looking forward to working with founders to help promising technologies become enduring businesses."
She is particularly interested in the scope to explore blended funding models that give startups room to grow sustainably while keeping smallholder farmers at the centre of their impact.
"For me, the most meaningful outcome is seeing knowledge, capital and innovation translate into stronger livelihoods and greater resilience for smallholders across the region."
Outside work, Gaya mentors founders and creatives, remains involved with the arts nonprofit Chowk, and performs classical and contemporary dance and theatre.
Gayathri Gopal
Joel Kam, Portfolio Success Lead
Joel will work with the founders in Monsoon's portfolio once the studio has invested. His role covers shaping value chain models and commercial partnerships, strengthening founding teams, and preparing companies to raise further capital and, eventually, exit.
He joins from Pine Capital Management, where as Investment Manager he oversaw investments, portfolio management and value creation. Before that, he spent more than three years in Tsao Pao Chee's direct investments team, where he worked on M&A and real estate and helped grow the group's corporate venture and innovation portfolio across maritime, logistics, agritech, and nature and climate.
Much of Joel's career has been spent assessing and making investments, and he is looking forward to working more closely with founders after the investment decision has been made.
"Having worked largely in deployment and due diligence, I've wanted to do more for the founders under my care, and this role lets me focus on exactly that. That might mean helping them build the right commercial partnerships, structure their teams for the mission ahead, or prepare for future investment and exits. I get a lot of joy from working with founders on a deeper level and seeing them reach their goals."
Joel describes his approach to impact investing as "doing well first, and by doing so, doing good". In his view, the businesses that create lasting change in communities are the ones whose commercial success is what produces their impact. That view fits closely with Monsoon's model, which treats a viable route to market as the foundation for any benefit to smallholder farmers.
"Capital is the catalyst for change. The work of co-creating these businesses with founders, and the support we bring to help them get there, is what leads to lasting transformation in the agrifood sector."
Joel also builds communities in under-represented areas of impact, convening founders, investors, corporates and institutions around the built environment and construction tech, agrifood and urban regeneration. He has mentored founders and speaks on climate tech and early-stage capital deployment in Southeast Asia.
Joel Kam
Meet the team this week
Gaya and Joel already have strong connections across Singapore's agrifood, innovation and investment communities, and they will be at Singapore International Agri-Food Week. They are keen to meet founders working on science-led agtech for smallholder farmers, as well as researchers, investors and corporate partners interested in how that technology reaches market.
To arrange a time to meet during the week, contact the team at info@monsoon-ventures.com or connect with Gaya and Joel on LinkedIn.
