Widus Partners is a licensed, cross-border private investment and strategic advisory firm providing practical solutions to corporate growth enterprises and startups in Asia and globally.
We are one of the premier private dealmakers in the region with our reputation and track record for executing transformative deals bridging markets and building long-term relationships.
Seoul
Hong Kong
Singapore
We are committed to our core philosophy of mobilizing a bespoke investment strategy to provide transformative value to our portfolio companies.
We use our multidisciplinary capabilities to work with corporations, private enterprises, and early-stage ventures to define the synergy story, secure the right counterparties, and execute transformative deals.
Through our affiliate company, fWD, we invest across all aspects of Web3 and blockchain sectors with a particular focus on content/IP infrastructure, decentralized finance, and gaming with solid use cases. Driven by investment opportunities we also leverage our global network to incubate and advise our partner clients.
Steve is the Managing Partner and Founding Member of Widus Partners. Steve has advised and invested in growth and venture stage companies in Korea, Hong Kong, and the US since 2008. Before founding Widus Partners, he has experience working as a corporate lawyer specializing in private equity and M&A transactions at Ropes & Gray, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Kim & Chang in Hong Kong and Korea. Steve also worked at KPMG in the Financial Advisory Services group in Seoul and San Francisco, advising on various cross-border deals. Steve received his JD from Northwestern University School of Law, MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and his B.A from the University of California, Berkeley.
David is the President at Widus Partners responsible for firm management, strategy, operations, and private investments. Most recently, David was CEO of Hillspring Investment, a Korea based VC firm investing in tech start-ups in Korea and U.S. and prior to that CEO of Hub Investment, an investment advisory firm based in Seoul covering Asian markets as well as global consumer and automotive sector. He also spent 21 years at Nike spanning across US, China and Korea namely as VP/GM of Nike Korea and VP/GM of Nike North China along with various other roles in sales, marketing, product management, strategy and logistics. He was also a management consultant at McKinsey. David holds MBA from Harvard Business School and B.A. from University of Western Ontario Richard Ivey School of Business.
Stavros brings 50 years of management experience across the luxury, consumer, and retail sectors in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Asia. As a senior executive, he played a pivotal role in the globalization of several European luxury brands, including leading Loro Piana’s expansion into Asia and helping build the global businesses of Zegna and ST.DUPONT. Having spent over 30 years in Asia, Stavros has developed an extensive network and deep commercial insight, and continues to advise leading luxury houses. Stavros holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Bologna and a master’s degree from Istituto Studi Direzionali in Italy.
John brings nearly 30 years of experience as a founder and chief executive in the technology sector. He has led companies through startup and scale-up phases, building and scaling multiple businesses to over $100 million in revenue. John served as Chairman and CEO of LegalZoom from 2005 to 2019, helping build the most recognized legal services brand in the United States and leading the company to its 2021 public listing at a market capitalization of approximately $7 billion. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of StudioDirect and co-founded Castling Group. John holds a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
David brings over 25 years of leadership experience as a technology entrepreneur and investor across the United States and Asia. He was Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Animoca Brands (ASX:AB1), a leader in blockchain gaming and NFTs that achieved unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Earlier in his career, David served as CEO of mail.com and Lycos, and held senior roles at China.com, where he led Asia’s first internet IPO on NASDAQ as CFO. He began his career in investment banking at Bankers Trust. David holds a BA with Honors from Stanford University.
Laura brings over 20 years of experience as an AI executive and strategist, leading enterprise-scale AI transformation across multiple industries. She served as Senior Vice President of AI R&D at CJ Group, where she led enterprise-wide AI strategy and deployed production-scale AI systems across finance, manufacturing, bio and healthcare, retail, logistics, food and beverage, and media. Earlier in her career, Laura built and led a global data science organization at Samsung Electronics and held leadership roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and multiple startups. Laura holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University and a B.A. with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley.
Steve brings over 25 years of experience as a media, technology, and digital platform executive across the United States and Asia. He is CEO of Generation A, a next-generation entertainment and digital assets platform. Previously, Steve served as COO of Azuki and CGO of CJ ENM and CEO of CJ ENM America, where he led global media strategy and international expansion. Earlier in his career, he served as CGO at FOX Corporation and was the Founder and CEO of Frankly. Steve began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and holds an A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
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