■ TEAM
Shanti Bergel
MANAGING DIRECTOR
London, England
Shanti is the founding partner of Transcend and a 35 year game industry veteran.
His global operating experience spans every major platform and business model transition of the last several decades and is animated by a career-long fascination with how changes in technology and distribution affect products, services, and communities.
As an investor, Shanti is proud to work alongside some of the most ambitious and talented founders in the business. He is a recognized member of the TechCrunch List, speaks fluent Japanese, and is a frequent speaker on early stage investment, M&A, and strategic partnerships in digital entertainment. He is based in London, England.
Andrew Sheppard
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Los Angeles, United States
Andrew is a strategist and seasoned executive focused on helping founders grow.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience building, managing and advising multi-billion dollar consumer businesses. Past employers include EA, GameSpot, Kabam, GREE and Rakuten Games among others. He has direct experience working in online media, social media game services, subscriptions, free-to-play, console games, online/PC games, mobile games and apps. His current areas of focus include cross-platform games, next gen social gaming, cloud gaming, influencer communities and messenger games.
Andrew is excited to put capital to work in service of companies that are passionate about reinventing the game. He is based in Los Angeles, United States.
Brett Krause
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Zurich, Switzerland
Brett is a proven executive leader in the areas of venture investing, game making, finance and banking. He is a passionate problem solver with a love for mobilizing capital and other resources to help portfolio companies succeed.
Following a 20-year banking career that included roles as President of JPMorgan China and CEO of Citi Vietnam, Brett spent 4.5 years as Chief Investment Officer at FunPlus, a world-class, independent game developer and publisher, and founder of FPX, one of the world's most successful esports organizations.
Brett has spent most of his professional career in Asia and speaks Mandarin, Japanese and French. He is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Sikander Chahal
PRINCIPAL
London, England
Sikander is a competitive gamer and digital native with strong investment and operational experience.
He has experience in M&A, fundraising, strategy, commercial due diligence and game development advisory. His previous employers include BIT Capital, London Venture Partners and Newzoo working with early stage to AAA game developers, investors and global media companies.
Sikander grew up playing multiplayer games and was in the top percentile of Dota players, in a competitive Counter-Strike 1.6 team and managed his own private Ragnarok Online community server. Gaming has played a central role in his life, and he’s excited to help founders build the next generation of digital entertainment. He is based in London, England.
Lirui Ding
PRINCIPAL
London, England
Lirui is a Principal at Transcend with more than 20 years of industry experience and a wide network across founders, publishers, and strategic gaming companies. He supports the firm's investment work through market research and analysis across mobile, PC, console, and VR, and works with portfolio founders on strategic planning, go-to-market, and publishing partnerships.
Before joining Transcend, Lirui held strategy and corporate development roles at Activision Blizzard covering EMEA. He speaks regularly at industry conferences including DICE, Gamescom, and ChinaJoy.
A former competitive esports player, Lirui ranked in the global top 20 in StarCraft and Warcraft III with 400+ APM. He is based in London, England.
Karyn Gibson
HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS & CAPITAL FORMATION
Zurich, Switzerland
Karyn leads investor relations and capital formation for Transcend, bringing over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry.
She started her career as an investor and LP at the Brown University endowment and Access Industries, a New York-based multi-billion dollar single family office. As an IR professional, she has led IR and fundraising efforts for alternative asset managers including Flex Capital, 3G Capital, and Center Lake Capital.
Karyn holds a dual BS/BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and is a CFA charterholder. She is based in Zurich, Switzerland.