Pand.ai, a Singapore-based developer of chatbot programs, has received US$1 million in seed funding from an unnamed angel investor.

The investor, the company said in a statement, is a Hong Kong-based barrister who has backed more than 10 ventures across China, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The company, with its beefed-up financial resources, said that it will recruit more executive talent into its fold to bolster its expansion efforts. To start off, it tapped James Tan, former CEO of Tokio Marine Life Singapore, for the newly created role of executive-in-residence. In that new role, Tan will spearhead Pand.ai’s insurance business across the Asia-Pacific region.

Tan joined Pand.ai’s advisory board in February as non-executive chairman. Earlier in his career, he held senior management positions in major financial companies such as AIA, Bain & Co., and Standard Chartered.

“We’re extremely excited to have James in our leadership team. He will bring to the table invaluable industry subject matter expertise that will help Pand.ai scale as a company, and become the premium AI chatbot developer for financial services,” said Pand.ai CEO and co-founder Shin Wee.

“We are also thrilled to have an angel investor who shares the same vision as us: to develop deep, homegrown AI capabilities to enable Pand.ai to become well-positioned to capture and serve the Asian market for the long haul.”