About Jenny Lee
Jenny Lee, senior managing partner at Granite Asia (formerly GGV Capital), spoke at the 2025 Qatar Economic Forum, where she discussed the emergence of regional technology clusters. She stated that "the days of one company taking almost the whole market are ending" and that regional economies can now support multiple players per vertical due to local nuances like language and payment systems. Lee also highlighted Asia's STEM talent pool, estimating that 6 to 7 million STEM professionals are trained in the region annually, and identified AI plus robotics as a key focus area, noting that countries like Qatar and Singapore can use automation to leapfrog in manufacturing.
In a January 2025 interview, Lee discussed her firm's fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that Granite Asia raised $2.5 billion over hundreds of Zoom calls, which she described as working "20‑hour days." She also reiterated her investment philosophy, emphasizing the importance of founder passion and deep problem-solving over trend-chasing, and identified robotics as the next major tech wave. Lee has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List and was named Outstanding Overseas Executive of the Year in 2018.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Jenny Lee's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
Transcript (1 segments)
J
Jenny Lee0:04
I think it's going to be harder and harder to be in the startup world, because a lot of the stories, a lot of the playbook, because of internet, because of information transparency, it's already out there. So I think for the entrepreneurs, I really would encourage entrepreneurs, when you're thinking of doing a startup, dig deep, right? What is the thing that's driving you to do a startup? Don't do a startup because it's cool, because your friends are doing it, because your school is telling you to do it, your government is telling you to do it. No. I think do a startup because you have a passion to try and solve a need, and the need that you're trying to solve has to be deep and big enough for you to spend your life trying to solve this problem. So I think that's where you're going to attract the right capital, where you find the partners that share that vision for you to try and change the world. I believe any individual with a deep enough passion trying to solve a big problem, I think if you're all in on that idea and vision, you will find the right partner around you. I think that's where the next generation of startups would come from, not just trying to figure out if that's an X in the U.S. or X or Y in China, if we do it in Southeast Asia you're going to get money maybe initially, but the world is discovered. So go back to the fundamental of entrepreneurship and figure out what is that thing that gets you up every day to go solve that problem.
