June 27, 2026 - Singapore

TheFirst
Spark

Full-day symposium for Asia's student founders

Singapore's next generation of AI builders, founders, and operators starts here. Join a full-day symposium for students and young builders exploring how to build, work, and start up in the AI age.

Why attend

Spend a day learning how student founders are building in the AI age.

TheFirst Spark brings together students, founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem partners for a full day of demos, debates, panels, office hours, and networking. It is designed to help students understand what is possible, what to build next, and who can help them move faster.

01

See What Student Builders Are Shipping

Watch demos from student teams and understand what is possible when young builders move quickly with AI tools.

02

Understand Asia's AI Opportunity

Hear how founders, operators, and investors are thinking about AI company-building across Singapore and the region.

03

Learn How To Start And Grow In AI

Get practical paths for moving from idea to prototype, users, pitch, and early founder resources.

04

Navigate Your Career In The AI Age

Explore how students can join fast-moving teams, build technical depth, and spot meaningful opportunities.

05

Find The Right People And Resources

Meet collaborators, mentors, investors, and ecosystem partners who can help students move faster after the event.

Speakers

Meet our speakers

Ms Jasmin Lau
Guest of Honour

Ms Jasmin Lau

Minister of StateMinistry of Digital Development and Information

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Ms Jasmin Lau is currently the Minister of State in the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and the Ministry of Education. She is also the Minister-in-charge of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) which builds tech for public good and supports public agencies’ efforts in driving digital transformation. Ms Lau is a Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC and oversees the Seletar-Serangoon Division. She is passionate about supporting residents in need and strengthening community health for her residents. She also serves as the Vice-Chairperson of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council. Before entering politics, Ms Lau spent almost 20 years in the public service. She previously served as Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Ministry of Health from 2022 to 2025, where she oversaw the development of healthcare finance, manpower and regulatory policy. From 2019 to 2021, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Singapore Global Network in the Economic Development Board.

Guan-ru Huang
Speaker

Guan-ru Huang

Cloud Solutions ArchitectNebius

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Guan-ru is a Cloud Solutions Architect at Nebius, bringing over seven years of experience across cloud infrastructure, DevOps, and backend engineering. Before joining Nebius, he spent nearly three years at Ataya as a Software Engineer working across backend systems built on Golang, and prior to that served as a DevOps Engineer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise specialising in cloud and hybrid cloud consulting.

Thomas Jeng
Speaker

Thomas Jeng

Head of Startups APACOpenAI

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Thomas Jeng is part of OpenAI’s go-to-market team, leading startup and venture capital relationships across Asia-Pacific. He has held leadership roles at Aspire and 500 Global, and has experience driving growth at early-stage startups like Gnowbe. Thomas started his career in strategy consulting at BCG and Gartner and is active as an investor and mentor in the region.

Jialu Zhong
Speaker

Jialu Zhong

Co-founderHeyMax

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Jialu is one of the cofounders of HeyMax, where she channels her experience from Big Tech and entrepreneurship to create innovative solutions in the travel and loyalty rewards space. She is passionate about designing user-facing products that address real-world problems and make daily life easier for everyone. Whether simplifying complex systems or creating intuitive tools, she thrives on building solutions that connect with users and provide meaningful value, especially in this AI era.

Marcus Cheu
Speaker

Marcus Cheu

APAC BD Lead, NotionNotion

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Marcus is a founding member of Notion's APAC team, having joined the team after being a Notion Ambassador previously. He has a wide range of experience from big tech firms like Salesforce to running his own startup.

June Lee
Speaker

June Lee

Head of APAC and SVP, Social ImpactWorkato

LinkedIn
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June Lee is a senior technology executive with over 30 years of experience driving growth, customer success, and regional expansion across Asia Pacific. As SVP Social Impact and Head of Asia Pacific at Workato, June leads both the company’s APAC business strategy and its philanthropic initiatives, a dual mandate that reflects her belief that commercial leadership and meaningful impact go hand in hand. Known for her ability to navigate complex markets and build high-performing teams, June has spent her career helping enterprise organizations harness technology to unlock new opportunities. At Workato, she works with some of the region’s most ambitious companies as they move from operational complexity to digital agility, powered by AI and automation. June is a recognized leader in the enterprise technology space and a champion for purposeful, people-first growth across APAC.

Sam Waldo
Speaker

Sam Waldo

Head of Startups, AsiaAirwallex

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Sam leads Airwallex's startup segment across Asia, helping founders move money across borders as they build and expand globally. He joined Airwallex after nearly a decade as a founder himself across fintech, non-profit, and e-commerce, and he was named to Forbes 30 Under 30.

See Ee Ling
Speaker

See Ee Ling

Ex-Head of Product and Transformation,Grab

LinkedIn
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During her 11 years at Grab, Ee Ling has traversed multiple roles including launching and scaling the private hire car business in Malaysia and Singapore; serving as Chief of Staff to both founders; leading IPO readiness, PMI and transformation efforts; and most recently, leading Product Strategy, Product Operations, Consumer Experiences and Platforms. She’s currently on sabbatical but enjoys advising and problem solving with founders, execs and next-gen leaders when she’s not tending to her 7 year old boss at home.

Candice Ong
Speaker

Candice Ong

Investor, Tech Executive, Board Director

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Candice helped build Zalora and then ShopBack into one of the region’s biggest shopping apps. She then moved into investing as COO and partner at Xora Innovation, a fund that backs startups built on hard science and frontier tech. Today she invests in early-stage companies and sits on a few boards, including Pick Network and ACE.

Joshua Wong
Speaker

Joshua Wong

Founder & CEOHypotenuse AI

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Joshua Wong is the founder and CEO of Hypotenuse AI, an AI-native platform for enterprise ecommerce companies. Previously an AI researcher at Amazon Alexa/Shopping and a University of Cambridge computer science graduate, he has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, Tatler Gen.T, and Prestige 40 under 40.

Yangshun Tay
Speaker

Yangshun Tay

Co-founderCliya AI & GreatFrontEnd

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Yangshun Tay is the founder of Cliya AI, an agentic creative platform. Previously Staff Engineer at Meta, he led the development of meta.com and created Docusaurus 2, one of Meta's most popular open source projects. These days, he's exploring the intersection of AI, frontend engineering, and design.

Eugene Cheah
Speaker

Eugene Cheah

Co-founder & CEOFeatherless AI

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Eugene is the founder of Featherless.ai — home to the world's largest collection of AI models accessible through a single API — and a core contributor to RWKV, an open-source foundation model under the Linux Foundation. A veteran of Singapore's tech scene, Eugene has shipped across startups, banks, and insurance firms, and is the creator of GPU.JS, one of the most widely used open-source GPU compute libraries in the JavaScript ecosystem.

Mark Pereira
Speaker

Mark Pereira

Head of Partnerships, Strategy & Growth (AI Products)AI Singapore

LinkedIn
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Mark Pereira is the Head of Partnerships, Strategy & Growth for AI Singapore (AI Products). He spearheads the partnerships and GTM strategy for the SEA-LION initiative, developing open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) that better understand Southeast Asia’s diverse contexts, languages, and cultures. His role drives the adoption and value creation of AI solutions, fostering partnerships and positioning Singapore as a global AI hub in multicultural AI development. He focuses on delivering hyper-local nuance understanding and impact in key sectors across Southeast Asia.

Charles Wong
Speaker

Charles Wong

Co-founder and CEOBifrost AI

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Charles Wong is co-founder and CEO of Bifrost AI, where he's building the data engine that teaches AI and robots to understand the physical world. Bifrost generates physically accurate 3D worlds so machines can learn new objects, tasks, and environments in hours instead of months. The company is backed by Airbus Ventures, Peak XV's Surge, Wavemaker, and Techstars, and works with partners like NASA JPL on data for Moon and Mars exploration.

Vincent Teyssier
Speaker

Vincent Teyssier

Volunteer CEOBetter.SG Limited

LinkedIn
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Vincent Teyssier is Volunteer CEO at Better.SG Limited. Better.SG is Singapore’s largest Tech for Good community, with over 3300 volunteers. We incubate our own community projects, support other charities with their tech needs, and upskill our community with mentorship and masterclasses.

Ivan Tung
Speaker

Ivan Tung

FounderPragnition Labs (NCS)

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Ivan is currently building Pragnition Labs, a team of cracked people that works with NCS to make Singapore AI-native. Pragnition Labs sit with the people doing the actual work, learn what wastes their time, and ship products built on frontier AI research to large enterprises and government agencies across Singapore.

Jay Teo
Speaker

Jay Teo

Co-founderFirst Prompt

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Jay Teo is a GTM architect scaling AI capabilities and commercialisation in APAC across startups, enterprises, and governments, working with foundational model labs and upcoming frontier startups.

Darren Lee
Speaker

Darren Lee

Founding APAC Team & Agent Development StrategistSierra

LinkedIn
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Darren is the Founding Agent Strategist at Sierra’s APAC office, where he partners large enterprises to transform customer experience using AI agents. Previously as part of BCG’s TMT practice, he built GENie, the firm’s proprietary AI agent platform and scaled it to dozens of enterprises and millions of customers globally. He focuses on the intersection between AI, strategy and deployment and holds a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Yale-NUS.

Patrick Lim
Speaker

Patrick Lim

CEOACE.SG

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Patrick has served as CEO of ACE.SG since October 2023. With over 20 years of experience in public service, he brings a solid track record in a diverse portfolio from industry and ecosystem development, policy formulation, and venture building. As a member of the pioneer secretariat team, Patrick played a foundational role in driving Singapore’s national entrepreneurship movement. His early leadership was instrumental in key milestones, including the corporatisation of ACE.SG and the strategic development of JTC LaunchPad@one-north.

Imane Jamal Eddine
Speaker

Imane Jamal Eddine

General Manager and Head of Sales, Digital Natives, VCs and Startups, AsiaMicrosoft

LinkedIn
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Imane Jamal Eddine is a GM and Head of Sales at Microsoft, where she leads the Digital Natives business across Asia, spanning ASEAN, ANZ, Japan, and Korea. She partners with the region’s fastest-growing startups and scale-ups, helping them innovate, build, and scale globally using cloud and AI. With a strong focus on AI-native companies, Imane works closely with founders and leadership teams to unlock growth, enter new markets, and co-create transformative solutions across industries including financial services, healthcare, and retail. Beyond her role at Microsoft, Imane is deeply committed to empowering the next generation of leaders. She is the founder of Lean In Women in Tech Singapore, where she champions diversity and supports women navigating careers in technology—especially in the rapidly evolving AI era. She is also the host of the podcast Coffee with Imane, Leaders of Change, where she highlights inspiring voices shaping the future of business and innovation.

Ee Ling Lim
Speaker

Ee Ling Lim

Co-founder and CEOWavesparks

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Ee Ling Lim is a global ecosystem builder and the former Head of Market Launch at 500 Global, where she led teams to scale over 65 startup accelerator programs across Israel, Canada, Egypt, Asia, and beyond. Recognised as one of Singapore’s Top 100 Women in Tech and a Bett Asia EdTech 10 honouree, Ee Ling also shapes future generations as a council member for Singapore’s National Youth Council and National Youth Fund.

Hongfei Xia
Speaker

Hongfei Xia

InvestorJanuary Capital

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Hongfei is an Investor at January Capital. Hongfei is a senior member of January Capital’s venture capital investment team, and is responsible for sourcing new opportunities, with a particular focus on software. Prior to joining January Capital, Hongfei began his career in investment banking at Bank of America, later moving to Silver Lake as a Principal focused on late-stage technology. Most recently, he served as the Corporate Development Lead for Google, where he oversaw M&A and growth investments across the Asia-Pacific region.

Sponsors and Partners

Meet our Sponsors and Partners

Symposium details

AGENDA

TimeSegmentContentSpeakers
09:00 Doors Registration & badge collection All attendees
09:30 Opening Remarks Organisers welcome the room and frame the day ahead. Hongfei XiaJanuary Capital Ee Ling LimWavesparks
09:45 Opening Keynote Opening Keynote — OpenAIWhat does AI abundance actually look like, and what does it mean for the builders in this room? Thomas Jeng, Head of Startups APAC at OpenAI, shares what's coming, what the most ambitious startups are already building with OpenAI's tools, and why this generation of founders is entering the most significant window in the history of technology. Thomas JengHead of Startups APAC, OpenAI
10:10 YFS Demo Day Young Founders Summit — demo showcaseThe Wavesparks Young Founders Summit is the leading entrepreneurship programme for high school students in Asia. Each year, 70+ youth from across Asia converge in Singapore after a 6-month incubator track — the demo teams on stage are the cohort's top builders. 6 YFS teams3 mins pitch
10:35 Panel 1: Industry AI inside the machine — how the world's biggest companies are actually changingFour senior operators and GTM leaders on what AI adoption looks like from the inside — what's really shifting in their products, their teams, and how they make hiring decisions. Not a founder story, not a policy talk. The view from the companies your future employers are running. Imane Jamal EddineGeneral Manager and Head of Sales, Digital Natives, VCs and Startups, Asia, Microsoft See Ee LingEx-Head of Product and Transformation, Grab Candice OngInvestor, Tech Executive, Board Director June LeeHead of APAC and SVP, Social Impact, Workato
11:20 Resources for Student Founders,Group A Funding & building your ideaA practical look at the grants, accelerator support, and ecosystem programmes available to student founders right now — from the organisations actively backing early-stage builders in Singapore. Mark PereiraHead of Partnerships, Strategy & Growth (AI Products), AI Singapore Patrick LimCEO, Ace.SG Tiffany HendrickDevelopment Partner, Startup Ecosystem Development, Enterprise Singapore
11:45 Product Demo 1Nebius Infrastructure powering today's AI build waveA look at the infrastructure powering today's AI build wave — how student builders and founders can access GPU compute and model infrastructure to ship faster, with a live look at what's actually running under the hood when you train or deploy a model at scale. Guan-ru HuangCloud Solutions Architect, Nebius
12:00 Lunch Lunch | The Floor — booths & networking All attendees
12:50 Founder Spotlight — The Robot Company The Robot CompanyA session from the founders of The Robot Company, Singapore's forward-deployed robotics team, on what it actually looks like to put robots to work in the real world. SiddharthFounder, The Robot Company
13:00 Product Demo 2Notion Your AI workspace — from student to founderA live demo of how Notion's AI workspace works as your second brain — whether you're managing coursework, building a side project, or running an early-stage company. Marcus CheuFounding APAC team, Notion
13:15 Fireside Chat Opportunities for Students in the Age of AIAn intimate conversation on Singapore's digital ambitions, government support for young builders, and her own journey from MIT to policy. Jasmin LauMinister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information
14:00 Panel 2: Product Building AI-first productsFour founders actively building AI-native products — the real decisions behind the products students are already using. Technical choices, finding PMF, going from first user to paying customers, and what the AI-first dev stack actually looks like in 2026. Joshua WongFounder & CEO, Hypotenuse AI Eugene CheahCo-founder & CEO, featherless.ai Charles WongCo-founder and CEO, Bifrost AI Vincent TeyssierVolunteer CEO, Better.SG Limited
14:45 Founder Spotlight — HeyMax Founder Spotlight — HeyMaxHeyMax is reimagining how people travel smarter across Asia, combining AI-powered rewards with a consumer product that's already in the hands of tens of thousands of users. See how a small team is building the future of travel, the AI features shaping that vision, and what their day-to-day as an AI-powered startup actually looks like from the inside. Jialu ZhongCo-founder, HeyMax
15:00 Resources for Student Founders,Group B Research & institutional pathwaysA look at the research infrastructure, institutional programmes, and capital networks supporting AI work in Singapore — from national research, university innovation offices, and global capital perspectives. Dr Rick GohDirector of Computing & Intelligence, IHPC, A*STAR Shengen LimChief Master Engineer, Lead Technologies (NTU Innovation and Entrepreneurship) Belle LimAPAC Lead, Worldwide Private Capital, Microsoft
15:30 Panel 3: Career The Big Question: Starting your career in the AI ageA structured for/against conversation on the career decision every student in the room is facing. Two speakers argue yes: build credentials, take the safe path first. Two argue no: the window is open now, optimise for learning and ownership. Live audience vote before and after; winning side = most opinion moved. Yangshun TayCo-founder, Cliya AI & GreatFrontEnd Sam WaldoHead of Startups Asia, Airwallex Ivan TungFounder, Pragnition Labs (NCS) Darren LeeAgent Development, Sierra AI Moderator Jay TeoCo-founder, First Prompt Ee Ling LimCo-founder, Wavesparks
16:15 Build Showcase Singapore's builders — build sprint finalistsThis showcase features the top finalists from our build sprint, a week-long challenge where student and early-career builders across Singapore committed to shipping an AI product publicly. What they built, why it matters, and what they learned along the way. Top 10 finalists
16:55 Founder Spotlight — Menlo Research Founder Spotlight — Menlo ResearchMenlo Research is building the robot labour force of tomorrow and they are doing it from Singapore. Find out what it takes to build at the intersection of open source AI and physical robotics, why embodied intelligence is the next frontier, and what they are shipping right now. Daniel OngCo-founder, Menlo Research
17:05 Product Demo 3OpenAI Build something in 10 minutesA live, unscripted demo showing what's possible with OpenAI's tools today. One concrete use case built from scratch in front of the room, with commentary on what's changed in the last 12 months and what that means for builders. Sun WeiranSolutions Architect, OpenAI
17:20 Closing Keynote "Your Move" — The First Fellows and what's next. Hongfei XiaInvestor, January Capital Ee Ling LimCo-founder and CEO, Wavesparks
17:30 Networking Free and easy networking. Open to all attendees
18:45 Shippers' Dinner Invite-only — top teams + speakers + partnersClosed dinner for build campaign finalists, speakers, and partner table hosts. ~60-80 pax. By invitation

Build Sprint

Register for TheFirst Spark Challenge

Join the 7-Day Build Sprint before AI Youth Symposium and turn your idea into something real. From 19-25 June, students can build from home, solo or in teams, and submit an AI project for a chance to pitch live on symposium day.

Why Join?

Build something real before symposium day.

Use the week to ship, sharpen, and submit an AI project for live feedback, pitch opportunities, and partner resources.

Get AI builder credits

  • All Build Sprint participants get $250 in OpenAI API credits and ChatGPT Pro for 3 months.
  • 1 month ElevenLabs Creator tier (normally $22/month).

Get feedback from experienced mentors

Use the sprint to get sharper on users, demos, product direction, and what to improve next.

Pitch on symposium day

Shortlisted teams may present live in front of students, founders, speakers, investors, and partners.

Win exciting prizes

1st place
  • $25K worth of OpenAI credits.
  • 3 months of ElevenLabs Pro tier per team member (worth $297/team member).
2nd place
  • $15K worth of OpenAI credits.
3rd place
  • $10K worth of OpenAI credits.
Best Project Built with
  • 6 months of ElevenLabs Scale tier per team member ($1980 value/team member).

How It Works

  1. 1
    Sign up on Luma

    Register for TheFirst Spark on Luma and indicate that you want to join the Build Sprint.

  2. 2
    Receive your Build Sprint info pack

    Once your registration is confirmed, we'll send you the full brief, timeline, submission details, and builder resources.

  3. 3
    Build from home

    Use the sprint window from 19-25 June to build, test, and polish your project, solo or as a team.

  4. 4
    Submit by 25 June, 12:00pm

    Submit your project through Devpost with: deck; GitHub repo, if available; 1-minute YouTube demo showing how your product works.

  5. 5
    Get selected to pitch

    Shortlisted teams will be invited to pitch live on symposium day.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can attend TheFirst Spark?

TheFirst Spark is open to students and young builders across Singapore, including JC, polytechnic, IHL, university students, and NSmen.

Do I need to be building something to attend?

No. You can attend the symposium even if you are not joining the Build Sprint or demoing a project. Come to learn, meet people, and explore what you might want to build next.

What is the 7-Day Build Sprint?

The 7-Day Build Sprint is an optional pre-event sprint from 19-25 June for students who want to create, test, or sharpen an AI project before symposium day. You can build from home, solo or in a team.

Can I join the Build Sprint and still attend the symposium?

Yes. The Build Sprint leads into the 27 June symposium, where selected teams may get the chance to demo their work live.

Where is the event?

The venue will be announced closer to the event date.

Is the event free?

Yes. Both the Build Sprint and symposium day are free to join.

Contact Us

Need more info or have questions about TheFirst Spark?

Email us at letsbuild@wavesparks.co and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!