#45 - Eric Chan | Hunting Unicorns: The AI Opportunity in Asia-Pacific
About this episode
Eric Chan discusses building a funds management business focused on AI unicorns in Asia-Pacific.
In today’s ROCast, Murdoch Gatti is joined by Eric Chan , co-founder and Group MD of Aura Ventures & Aura Group . Eric shares what it takes to build a funds management business and their pursuit of backing Asia-Pacific’s next AI unicorn — through a disciplined process that blends private credit stability with high-conviction venture capital. We break down Aura’s two flagship strategies: Aura Private Credit Income Fund — an evergreen wholesale fund that has delivered ~9% p.a. since 2017 by financing SME-focused non-bank lenders. With short-duration loans, first-loss protection, and monthly liquidity, it offers stable income and strong risk controls. Aura Venture Fund — a seed-stage vehicle conditionally registered as an ESVCLP ( Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership), where investors commit capital via staged calls, gain tax benefits once fully registered, and back founders across Australia and Southeast Asia. A standout holding is Haast , an AI compliance platform already used by Telstra and Zurich. As Eric points out, the best measure of AI success is cost savings — and Haast has reduced compliance costs by ~60%, cut review times by 80%, and scaled rapidly from a…
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