Khazanah Nasional Adds SenseTime and Tencent Execs to Board

“The two new board members are Tencent Holdings Senior Executive Lau Seng Yee and SenseTime Founder Tang Xiao’ou…”

A pair of tech executives with China’s SenseTime and Tencent have joined the board of Khazanah Nasional, a sovereign wealth fund in Malaysia. The appointees are the first representatives of Chinese companies on the Khazanah board, which is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and has roughly $33 billion in assets.

The two new board members are Tencent Holdings Senior Executive Lau Seng Yee and SenseTime Founder Tang Xiao’ou. SenseTime is a facial recognition startup that was recently valued at $4.5 billion, with significant backing from Alibaba and other investors. Tang Xiao’ou is also the head of the Multimedia Lab at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, while SenseTime is currently working with Malaysia’s G3 Global to advance the use of AI in the country.

Lau Seng Yee, meanwhile, is a Malaysian national responsible for Tencent’s marketing and global branding. Tencent is perhaps best known for WeChat, although the company has a diverse portfolio that includes everything from biometric smart car technology to mobile gaming.  

Both appointments reflect the shifting investment interests of the Malaysian government. The state-owned Khazanah has previously backed local companies in finance, healthcare, and telecommunications in an effort to develop a more modern technological infrastructure. The two new board members – both from prominent international tech companies – should further those goals within the country.  

Source: Nikkei Asian Review

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)