Gary Khoeng

Gary Khoeng joined Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India in 2017, where he leads the firm's coverage of Indonesia's startup ecosystem. He is currently listed as a Partner, Investment on the firm's team page, having earlier been referred to as (Senior) Executive Director, Investment in local Indonesian press. Vertex Ventures SEA & India is part of the Vertex global network anchored by Singapore's Temasek Holdings, and closed its Fund V at US$541 million.

Before Vertex, Gary spent most of his career in financial services and consulting. He worked several years at Citigroup's Institutional Clients Group across New York, Singapore and Hong Kong, and later joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Jakarta, advising clients in the FMCG and financial services sectors. Immediately prior to Vertex, he was actively investing in early-stage companies at an Indonesian fund across e-commerce, fintech, media and SaaS.

He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) in Illinois, and a double-major bachelor's degree in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

• Focuses on Indonesian companies in three core buckets he has repeatedly named: e-commerce, fintech, and "SME empowerment" — startups that help small businesses and UMKM (Indonesian micro/small/medium enterprises) digitize and grow.
• Invests primarily at the seed and early stage, then supports companies through follow-on growth rounds.
• Emphasizes execution and localization for the Indonesian market. On companies entering Indonesia, he stresses three success factors: assembling an experienced local team, adapting to Indonesian consumer habits and competitive dynamics, and evaluating infrastructure availability before entry.
• Draws parallels between India and Indonesia — comparable demographics, purchasing power, geographic diversity, and small-retail structures (Indonesia's *warung* vs. India's *kirana*) — a lens he uses to evaluate cross-market expansion opportunities.
• Notes that lack of traction isn't always complacency: "Even teams who conduct their due diligence on the market may be affected by unexpected factors."