Aaron Kim

Aaron Kim is a seasoned finance and investment professional with over three decades of experience spanning corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, and real estate development across the United States and Asia. He earned both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Economics from Boston University (1990 and 1991, respectively). He began his career at Citibank (1990-1997), where he served as a Corporate Officer in New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore, working on corporate finance, advisory, and strategic planning assignments. He subsequently served as a Director/Board Member at the Brunei Investment Agency (1997-1999) before becoming Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at AXA Japan Holding Co., Ltd., where he was responsible for restructuring administrative operations, six sigma initiatives, BPO, and other turnaround activities following AXA's $2 billion acquisition of Nippon Group Life.

In 2008, Kim co-founded Valparaiso Capital Partners, a regional Asia-focused private equity firm based in Singapore. Over approximately three decades of work in Asia, he built deep expertise in real estate and principal investing, directly managing site acquisition, construction, design development, leasing strategies, and fundraising for the firm's projects. Valparaiso's institutional investor base included sovereign wealth funds, public and private university endowments, insurance companies, private equity funds, and multi-family offices. The firm focused on private transactions in Asia with gross values exceeding US$100 million, delivering direct investments in operating businesses underpinned by real assets.

Kim is currently Co-Founder of Selbyton LLC, a family office investment company engaged in venture capital, real estate development, and private equity investments. He also serves as a Consultant/Advisor at Athos Private Wealth LLC (since February 2021), which focuses on wealth management, family office management, private investing, and liquid crypto management. Outside of investing, Kim is an active community leader -- he serves as Vice Chair of the 501(c)(3) US Foundation of the Singapore American School, previously served as a Board Member of the American Association of Singapore, and has been a member of the Council of Korean Americans (CKA) since 2021.

Aaron Kim's investment approach spans two distinct but complementary areas. Through Selbyton LLC, his family office, he operates as an angel investor focused on seed-stage companies, with particular interest in the finance sector including wealth management, decision modeling, and family office consulting. Through his prior work at Valparaiso Capital Partners, he developed a thesis centered on providing institutional-quality direct equity participation in Asian businesses backed by real assets. Valparaiso targeted private transactions with gross values above US$100 million, primarily in real estate development and commercial services. His advisory role at Athos Private Wealth extends his reach into early and growth-stage capital requirements across a broad range of sectors and industries in the United States. Kim's overall approach reflects a blend of institutional private equity discipline with the agility of angel and seed-stage investing.