After graduating from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a degree in engineering, Li went to Stanford where he graduated with an MBA from their school of business. He is the founder of Shopee and Garena, but it is the online gaming firm Sea for which he is best known, and from where he derives much of his wealth. The company, which he founded and runs himself and has a 15.5% stake in, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2017. It then boasted sales of approximately $1 billion in 2018, and has continued to see incredible success and growth, producing some of the bestselling games for both Apple and Android.

From the twelve months from July 2018 to the summer of 2019 Li’s wealth more than doubled and it has continued to do so, becoming not just Singapore’s newest billionaire, but its only online gambling one. Sea is also involved in e-payments and e-commerce throughout Southeast Asia.