When Mark Koh co-founded Supahands in 2014, it was not his first venture in a business positioned at the leading edge of technology. Among his earlier start-ups were several tech-based businesses that were, in his own words, “too ahead of [their] time”.

Originally a virtual assistant platform, Koh steered Supahands to venture into artificial intelligence, which was a major turning point for the company. Since then, it has been focused on accelerating the development of artificial intelligence by labelling data for machines, using a hybrid of human intelligence and machines. The company has grown a cloud-based workforce across Southeast Asia numbering more than 7,000 people; Koh’s staff help companies sort through, label and validate their data in preparation for machine learning.

Koh has a degree in Commerce with Finance and Economics from University of Sydney, and joined a boutique financial practice in the Australian city after graduating, where he soon realised a desire to be an entrepreneur.

Outside of work, he enjoys participating in endurance sports in his free time, which he credits for his entrepreneurial success.