T ianqiao Chen is a Chinese billionaire who was a pioneer of the country's online gaming industry. In 1999, he and his brother and wife founded Shanda Interactive Entertainment. The company became a massive success by securing the Chinese distribution rights for the popular South Korean online role-playing game, "The Legend of Mir II." Shanda became a dominant force in the early days of China's internet, and Chen took the company public on the Nasdaq in 2004, which made him, for a time, the richest person in China.

After a highly successful career in gaming, Chen's interests shifted. He took his company private and has since pivoted his focus to a new and ambitious field: brain science. He and his wife have relocated to Singapore and have established the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, a major philanthropic organization to which they have committed over a billion dollars. The institute's mission is to fund fundamental research into the human brain, with a focus on brain discovery, treatment, and development. He now manages his family's wealth through their private investment firm, the Shanda Group.