# Tony Ren

> Tony Dongni Ren is a Singapore-based computer scientist and repeat founder who turned an abrupt first-job ending into Yimian Data, sold the company to Ascential, stayed through a four-year earnout, and then reunited his original team to build again. After Recurve, later known as Reorc, he launched Syfo, a shared workspace designed to make work between people and AI agents persistent, reviewable, and accountable.

- **Role:** Founder at Syfo
- **Organizations:** Syfo, Recurve, Reorc, Yimian Data, Ascential, Flywheel, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- **Education:** BEng in Computer Science (Information Engineering), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, MPhil in Computer Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, PhD in Computer Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- **Known for:** Founded Yimian Data in 2014 and led it through its 2020 acquisition by Ascential., Built Yimian to a team of about 100 people across Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing by the time of the acquisition., Completed a four-year post-acquisition earnout while remaining CEO, then became Flywheel's chief product officer for Asia-Pacific.

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Began an eleven-year stretch of undergraduate and postgraduate computer science study at HKUST.
- **2007** — Completed a BEng in Computer Science (Information Engineering) at HKUST.
- **2009** — Completed an MPhil in Computer Science at HKUST.
- **2012** — Co-authored an IEEE Transactions on Multimedia paper on fine-grain measurement of global peer-assisted video streaming.
- **2014** — Completed his PhD, briefly joined Kuaibo, and founded Yimian Data after the company was shut down.
- **2016** — Yimian received backing from ZhenFund after finding a clearer enterprise-data market.
- **2018** — A cold LinkedIn approach began the acquisition conversation with Ascential.
- **2019** — Signed the agreement to sell Yimian Data and began a four-year earnout.
- **2020** — Ascential publicly announced its acquisition of Yimian Data and integrated it into Edge by Ascential.
- **2020-2023** — Continued as Yimian CEO through the earnout and later served as Flywheel Asia-Pacific chief product officer, overseeing a 400-person regional R&D organization.
- **2023** — Left after the earnout and reunited members of Yimian's original team to found Recurve, later known as Reorc, for data and AI infrastructure.
- **2026** — Launched Syfo publicly as a shared workspace for teams of people and AI agents.

## Achievements

- Founded Yimian Data in 2014 and led it through its 2020 acquisition by Ascential.
- Built Yimian to a team of about 100 people across Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing by the time of the acquisition.
- Completed a four-year post-acquisition earnout while remaining CEO, then became Flywheel's chief product officer for Asia-Pacific.
- Oversaw a 400-person regional R&D organization at Flywheel Asia-Pacific.
- Reunited Yimian's original team to launch a second data and AI infrastructure company in 2023.
- Co-authored peer-reviewed research on global peer-assisted video streaming in IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.
- Led Syfo to selection as a Top 11 finalist for the 2026 Startup World Cup Asia Finale.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Published a framework for measuring whether an enterprise has become agent-native, emphasizing retained workflows, handoff integrity, decision traceability, and verified outcomes.
- **2026-09** — Syfo was selected as a Top 11 finalist for the 2026 Startup World Cup Asia Finale in Hong Kong.
- **2026-09** — Shared field notes from Tokyo on enterprise AI purchasing, arguing that predictable pricing, responsibility, local trust, and support shape adoption alongside model quality.
- **2026-08** — Publicly launched Syfo, describing it as a workspace where people and AI agents share channels, tasks, context, and durable work.

## Links

- Website: https://syfo.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyren

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tony-ren
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-26