Carousell co-founder chases AI frontier

Lucas Ngoo, one of three people who co-founded recommerce major Carousell 13 years ago, stepped away from the classifieds giant last year. But he’s not taking a breather.

Ngoo is diving headfirst into two different ventures: AI health companion CareSense and a robotics startup currently in stealth mode.

Personalized healthcare and automation are a significant departure from Carousell. But for Ngoo, the underlying goal is the same – leveraging tech to make things easier for users.

CareSense founder Lucas Ngoo / Photo credit: CareSense

Learning to build

Ngoo’s approach is deeply informed by his over-a-decade-long journey with Carousell.

When he and his co-founders started the company in 2011, he says many firms were looking for areas where tech can potentially plug gaps. Apple’s iPhone was one example – it was the first cellular phone that let users do more than call and text.

He sees something similar now with AI, which he believes can address pressing issues like labor shortages for dangerous or mundane jobs or the advanced age of the workers in these roles.

With his new ventures, the lessons he learned from Carousell are now proving invaluable.

Indeed, starting the classifieds company was Ngoo’s “first job.” And he says the team had to learn fast, make mistakes, and recover quickly. And despite being “a technical kind of person,” he had to learn to take on business roles as well.

 See also: Carousell cuts 76 jobs across markets (Update)

At the start, the founder leaned on Singapore’s burgeoning startup ecosystem to get ahead.

During Carousell’s early days, he recalls that he only needed to take a few steps outside the company’s office – located in entrepreneurial hub Block 71 – to ask questions and gain insight from other founders.

Photo credit: Fang Shihan

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