# Gerald Tan

> Gerald Tan is the Singaporean CEO and founder of Agridence, formerly HeveaConnect. He previously operated his family’s Indonesian rubber business and has led Agridence’s development since 2018, expanding from digital natural rubber trading into agricultural traceability and compliance. In 2025 he invested additional capital to become the company’s largest individual shareholder.

- **Role:** CEO & Founder at Agridence
- **Organizations:** Agridence, HeveaConnect (former name of Agridence), PT Pulau Bintan Djaya (former family business), Halcyon Agri (post-sale strategy team)
- **Nationality:** Singaporean
- **Education:** Singapore Management University
- **Known for:** Led Agridence’s development from its 2018 beginnings into a multi-commodity traceability and compliance business., Led HeveaConnect when its SGX investment announcement reported over 250,000 metric tonnes matched and over US$325 million in gross sales value., Became Agridence’s largest individual shareholder through additional investment in 2025.

## Career timeline

- **2004-2008** — Studied at Singapore Management University; public LinkedIn profile lists magna cum laude.
- **2011** — Took over the family rubber business in Indonesia.
- **2011-2018** — Led modernisation and management/reporting changes at PT Pulau Bintan Djaya and the sale of shares to Halcyon Agri; project dates from his public profile.
- **2018** — Began developing HeveaConnect, the company later renamed Agridence.
- **2019** — HeveaConnect’s physical natural rubber trading platform began operating; Tan published an essay on Indonesian smallholder economics.
- **2021** — Presented the Sumatran Rubber Pilot with WWF’s Michael Steuwe; Continental joined HeveaConnect’s trading platform.
- **2022** — As CEO, announced the 25 October rebrand to Agridence and restructuring of its rubber business.
- **2025** — Invested additional capital to become Agridence’s single largest individual shareholder as it announced founder-led governance; led the company during its acquisition of farmer connect.

## Achievements

- Led Agridence’s development from its 2018 beginnings into a multi-commodity traceability and compliance business.
- Led HeveaConnect when its SGX investment announcement reported over 250,000 metric tonnes matched and over US$325 million in gross sales value.
- Became Agridence’s largest individual shareholder through additional investment in 2025.
- Led Agridence during the August 2025 acquisition of farmer connect.
- Agridence helped develop and launch RSPO’s prisma system in February 2025; the development agreement ended by mutual agreement in January 2026.
- Agridence developed SCP Links with the Sustainable Coconut Partnership.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Agridence announced Tan as a participant at the Sustainable Coconut Partnership Roundtable in Nusa Dua, Bali, scheduled for 5-9 October 2026, to discuss SCP Links and lessons from rubber. Announcement verified; attendance not independently confirmed.
- **2026-05** — Promoted practitioner training scheduled for 5 May in Jakarta and Agridence’s SCP Links assurance infrastructure.
- **2026-01** — RSPO announced that its development service agreement with Agridence concluded by mutual agreement as of 14 January, following prisma’s February 2025 launch.
- **2025-08** — Agridence announced founder-led governance and a Cercano-led funding round after Tan invested additional capital; acquisition of farmer connect was announced on 19 August.
- **2025-05** — Published a Business Times commentary about embedding sustainability in Asian commodity supply chains.

## Links

- Website: https://agridence.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldtanwj/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/gerald-tan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14