David Yu

David Yu is a New Zealand entrepreneur and business executive who currently serves as founder of ECOMI/ORBIS, the company behind the VeVe digital collectibles platform. His career has spanned gaming, retail, licensing, distribution, financial technology, and blockchain, with business and director roles across New Zealand and Asia. ^{[2] [6]}

Career

Yu began his business career in the gaming and retail sectors in New Zealand, becoming a director of Vagabond Games in 1997. He later founded Retail Management Group Limited in 1997, initially as a master franchisee for retail chains before the company expanded into supply-chain services, distribution, brand development, and investments across Australasia and Asia. In 2001, Games R Us Limited was incorporated as a gaming supplier associated with the Vagabond Games chain, with Yu serving as a director. He subsequently held leadership roles in related gaming and retail businesses, including Hobby Co Limited from 2008, Retail Management Group Glocal (Taiwan) from 2009, Allegro Publishing Limited from 2009, and Livewire Games from 2006.

Yu expanded his business activities into Asia during the 2000s and 2010s. He served as a director of Retail Management Group (Taiwan), Shanghai Retail Management Group, and Shanghai Quanren Foreign Trade Company, with these businesses involved in areas including retail, consumer products, distribution, licensing, and market development. He also served as a business manager for licenses at Quatius Limited in Hong Kong from 2012 and as a consultant to Golden Seal Trading Company from 2009. Alongside his commercial activities, he held trustee and advisory roles, including with the Australasia Olympic Culture Promotion Society and the Touchable Earth Foundation, and became a director of the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Taipei in 2017.

In 2017, Yu founded ECOMI, a company focused on blockchain-based digital collectibles, and subsequently developed the VeVe platform. VeVe began as a digital collectibles platform and expanded into an application and web-based marketplace offering digital collectibles, comics, artworks, secondary trading, and interactive features. ECOMI also issued the OMI token as part of the ecosystem. Yu has continued to serve as a founder of ECOMI/ORBIS while the platform expanded its use of blockchain technology and partnerships with entertainment and intellectual-property companies.

In 2019, Yu became executive director of Binji FinTech, a financial technology company developing an app-based banking platform. Binji's products included a payment card connected to multiple debit and credit cards, along with services such as direct deposit and peer-to-peer payments. His role at Binji has overlapped with his continuing work at ECOMI and his other business and board positions. ^[1]

Interviews

VeVe and OMI

In a July 2026 episode of the Beyond The Drop podcast, Yu discussed VeVe’s infrastructure development, partnerships, gaming strategy, and the planned expansion of OMI utility. He described ongoing work on app updates, chat functionality, and the transition to Collect Chain, which he said would support self-custody and eventually enable APIs for developers. Yu also discussed VeVe’s partnerships with Ubisoft, Capcom, and Roblox, including the Roblox Rabbids collaboration and efforts to integrate VeVe collectibles into gaming environments. The conversation covered VeVe’s expansion into gaming, esports, social features, and cross-platform digital asset utility, as well as discussions with additional intellectual property owners and gaming companies. Yu emphasized developing practical use cases for OMI through utility programs and related infrastructure rather than relying on token burning or short-term market activity. He also discussed the broader licensing strategy, growing interest from brands, and plans for continued community engagement and events. ^[3]