Under The Radar

We promise to make this conversation a colourful one as we speak to global colour authority Pantone.  The firm is a provider of professional standards for the design industries, creating a universal language of colour that enables colour critical decisions through every stage of the workflow for brands and the manufacturer. But did you know that Pantone’s origins could be traced back to a commercial printing company in New York City in the 1950s? The company had systematised and simplified its pigments and coloured inks, and that’s how the Pantone we know came about. Today, Pantone works with some of the world’s most recognisable consumer, fashion and technology brands, with over 10 million designers and producers relying on its products and services to help define, communicate and control colour from inspiration to realisation.  The firm’s business can be broadly split into four segments: (1) Pantone Standards which feature digital and physical colour specification and workflow tools, the (2) Pantone Colour Institute which provides customised colour standards, brand identity, product colour consulting and trend forecasting, (3) Pantone B2B Licensing and last but not least (4) Pantone Lifestyle that brings colour and design across apparel, home and accessories.  More notably, Pantone is also an operating subsidiary of Veralto, a US$5 billion essential technology solutions leader listed on the New York Stock Exchange. But how does the business work exactly? Meanwhile, Pantone and luxury car maker Porsche together presented an exclusive colour called Turbonite. That’s a colour with an elegant metallic grey tone customised for the brand and its Turbo derivatives. But what does such collaborations mean for Pantone when it comes down to the P&L? On Under the Radar, Money Matter's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Elley Cheng, President, Pantone. 

Did you know that a ChatGPT query takes up nearly 10 times the amount of electricity needed to run a Google search on average?  That’s right. And what that means is that the current boom in artificial intelligence we’re seeing is driving up a significant increase in data centre workload and demand for data centre capacity. For one thing, the International Data Corporation or IDC expects the surging demand for AI workloads to drive up AI data centre capacity at a projected compound annual growth rate of 40.5% from 2024 through 2027.    But how has that filtered down to data centre operators and related REITs? That’s what we are going to find out from our guest for today, Digital Core REIT.  Listed on the mainboard of the SGX in 2021, Digital Core Reit is said to be the only pure-play data centre Singapore REIT sponsored by data centre owner and operator Digital Realty.  The REIT has a principal investment strategy of investing in a diversified portfolio of stabilised income-producing real estate assets located globally which are used primarily for data centre purposes, as well as assets necessary to support the digital economy. Currently, the REIT holds US$1.4B in assets under management and 10 data centres in its portfolio. But how will this change amid the boom in AI, and how far will Southeast Asia be a bright spot for the firm, with big techs pouring investments into the region to build data centres?  Also – how does Digital Core REIT assess Singapore as a destination to host data centres? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to John Stewart, CEO, Digital Core REIT. 

It’s all about making carbohydrates great again today as we speak to a food tech company that aims to make carbs-heavy food healthier for consumers.  Founded in 2015, Alchemy Foodtech is a Singapore-based food innovation company that aims to create food that not only taste better, but are healthier for people.  In particular, the company formulates food ingredients that can reduce sugar usage and lower the glycemic index in carbohydrate-based foods while improving gut and metabolic health. Such ingredients can be used in items such as rice, noodles, bread, confectionery and even beverages.  In particular, the firm said it is known for its Alchemy Fibre™️. The patented fibre blend is made out of plant ingredients such as corn and legumes and can be added to carb-heavy food products like rice, bread or noodles to prevent sudden blood sugar spikes.  Another product that the company is pushing out is a sugar replacer solution  SweetFibre™️.  So far, Alchemy Foodtech said it has worked with Subway on a lower sugar cookie in Singapore. Some of its other local customers include chicken rice chain Boon Tong Kee, the Springleaf Prata Place and duck specialist Dian Xiao Er. But how far is Singapore a key market for Alchemy, given how the country declared war against diabetes back in 2016?  Also – where does the company intend to expand into to achieve greater scale in the medium to longer term?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Alan Phua, Co-founder, Alchemy Foodtech.

It’s back to the offshore and marine industry today as we speak to a Thailand-based international subsea and offshore services company that services some of the oil and gas majors and their contractors.  Listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in 2007, Mermaid Maritime provides full turnkey services through its diversified portfolio of subsea vessels, specialised diving equipment and remotely operated vehicles.  These services include subsea inspection, repair and maintenance, cable laying and engineering, transportation and installation as well as decommissioning.  The firm’s operations span across five geographical regions, namely the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia as well as the UK, and has a team of over 500 professional divers, technicians, surveyors, management and support staff.  Mermaid Maritime is an interesting company to watch given how SGX-listed offshore and marine are enjoying positive earnings results for the April toJune quarter and the first half of 2024. That’s as players hold a strong pipeline of work and recover from an earlier slump seen during the pandemic. At Mermaid Maritime, the Group had in Q1 turned around year ago losses. In Q2 2024, it reported a net profit of US$2.9 million, an increase from the last quarter, but a drop on a yearly basis due to higher in-planned financial cost.  Its total order book peaked at US$976 million at the end of June 2024 with multiple project awards in South East Asia, the Middle East, North Sea and Western Sub Saharan region for both short-term and long term throughout FY2026.  But how does the firm assess its outlook ahead?  Meanwhile, with tensions in the Middle East weighing on oil prices, what would that mean for firms serving the oil and gas industry, such as Mermaid Maritime?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Paul Whiley, COO, Mermaid Maritime.

Chipmakers take the centre stage today as we speak to a high performance and adaptive computing leader that is at the forefront of powering generative artificial intelligence.  Founded in 1969 as a Silicon Valley startup, our guest for today is fabless chipmaker and chip designer Advanced Micro Devices or AMD.  The company had driven innovation in high performance computing, graphics and visualisation technologies for over half a century. It currently serves billions of people and leads Fortune 500 companies and scientific research innovations in improving the way people work, live and play.  Now, AMD is a company to watch particularly at this moment in time where we see a rush by global big techs to invest in generative AI infrastructure.  In particular, a Forbes article noted that global big techs spent over US$150 billion in capital expenditure on AI infrastructure for the past year dating from August 2024.  The massive spending raises questions as to how exactly generative AI would augment our daily lives and how big techs can generate returns on the massive spending.  That also means questions as to and whether the demand for generative AI solutions can continue to bolster demand for AI chips at the likes of AMD into the longer term.  At the same time, media reports out in September 2024 cited remarks by AMD CEO Lisa Su where she believes that graphic processing units may not be the architecture of choice for firms working on AI in the next five years.  Su noted that there would be a broadening beyond GPUs in the form of custom AI chips. But what does it mean for AMD in terms of its product offerings and how it is positioning itself for its next bound of growth?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Peter Chambers, Managing Director, Sales, APAC & Country Manager, Australia, AMD.

Carsharing is on deck today as we speak to Singapore’s largest carsharing service, where users can register, book a car and start driving in the span of minutes.  You might have guessed it by now – yes we’re indeed speaking to GetGo. Founded in 2020 in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, GetGo has expanded quickly in recent years to 1,600 locations across Singapore.  The company now boasts a fleet of 3,000 cars, over 300,000 users and over 3 million drives completed. But why are we speaking to GetGo you might ask? Well, the carsharing business is an interesting one to look at because of rising car ownership costs in Singapore. For one thing, a survey by The Straits Times out in 2022 revealed that the high costs of buying a car are putting a dent on car ownership aspirations. So how far has that opened up a market gap for GetGo to fill? Meanwhile, GetGo had in July 2024 teamed up with electric vehicle charging firm Charge+ to introduce the carsharing company’s electric vehicles and Charge+’s EV charging infrastructure together in condominium projects.  GetGo and Charge+ had said that they aim to provide 100 condominiums with such bundled products by 2025.But what were the reasons behind the move, and how much money will the partnership bring to GetGo given the increased adoption of EVs among the younger population?  Speaking of condominium projects, GetGo also said then that it would roll out a new feature in Q4 to provide condominium developers secured access to its carsharing vehicles – but again, what is the significance of the move to GetGo as a company?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ting Feng Toh, CEO and Co-founder, GetGo.

Using artificial intelligence to help banks dig up dirt on non-public companies in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. That’s what our guest for today aims to do.  Founded in 2023, Inriskable uses AI and alternative data sources, such as company information, litigations, news and directors information to help professionals identify credit risks and information regarding these private companies.  Through AI-driven analysis and data-driven decision making, the firm hopes to help professionals make more informed judgments when assessing the business information and financial capability of SMEs.  The firm said this would enhance risk management and sales prospecting processes and improve the accuracy of identifying potential defaults or fraudulent activities.  So far, Inriskable holds 800 million pieces of company data across regions, and has over 280,000 global unique users. But how is the firm monetising on its user and database? What numbers are we looking at when it boils down to valuation?  Speaking of valuation, the global Regtech market was valued at US$12.54 billion in 2023 by Spherical Insights & Consulting, with that number expected to balloon to  US$81.48 billion by 2033. We are talking about a CAGR of 20.58% during the forecast period.  But how does Inriskable see itself within the global regtech market and what will be the key drivers of growth for the firm looking ahead? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Megan Chau, CEO, Co-founder of Inriskable.

It’s all about making FMCGs more accessible to consumers in rural Indonesia today.  With a population of over 277 million people, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with a GDP of around US$1.32 trillion back in 2022.  At the same time, data from Statista showed Indonesian households allocating almost a fifth of their household expenses for FMCGs since 2018.  While the numbers look promising, about forty per cent of Indonesian reside in the rural parts of the country, making accessibility a key challenge for consumers.  The internet appears to be key to bringing FMCGs to the consumers, with over three quarters of people (77%) in the country using the internet on a regular basis.  And that’s exactly what our guest for today leveraged to tap underserved rural communities in Indonesia. Founded in 2018, Aplikasi Super is a social commerce startup that aims to enable community leaders to become retailers of their own by selling through its Super app.  The company operates a central warehouse and works with third-party logistics providers to deliver FMCG items to these community leaders, who are individuals or mom-and-pop shops called warungs. That’s done within a day of placing the order. According to a TechCrunch article out in June 2022, the firm said then that it boasts a network of thousands of community agents, distributing millions of dollars of items to communities each month. But what are the numbers looking at right now? Meanwhile, the firm had in June 2022 raised US$70 million in an oversubscribed Series C round. Those participating in the round included the likes of Insignia Venture Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, B Capital and more. Question is – how has the money been used thus far and how far has the capital injection augmented the firm’s growth trajectory? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Alfred Ali, Chief Product Officer, Aplikasi Super. 

Put professional networking and social media together – and there you have it – that’s our guest for today, LinkedIn.  Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more than productive and successful. The firm boasts a diversified range of services ranging from Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Sales Solutions and Premium Subscriptions products.  With over 1 billion members worldwide, including executives from many Fortune 500 companies, the Microsoft-owned company is also the world’s largest professional network.  In the APAC region alone, the social media player has a base of over 310 million individuals, helping them connect with like-minded professionals and remain updated on industry trends.  Why are we speaking to LinkedIn you might ask? Well the social media network is an interesting one to look at given how it saw a boom in creators coming on board the platform amid the pandemic, when people had to work remotely, form connections, and market themselves using the internet.  So how does the firm utilise its algorithm to prevent an overwhelm of content on users, but yet ensure that it remains valuable to the creator community and marketers who are purchasing its B2C subscriptions as well as B2B solutions? Speaking of algorithms, LinkedIn appears to be rolling out video carousels and prioritising videos on the platform in recent months. But what were the reasons behind the move?  How important are videos in helping LinkedIn better engage and retain users and get businesses to up their advertising spend? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Feon Ang, APAC Managing Director, LinkedIn.

It’s all about the payments landscape today as we speak to a pioneer in Singapore’s fintech space. Make a guess – this company also has over 650 self-service kiosks across Singapore and handles over 650 million bill payments since its inception in the year 2000. We’re talking about bills for schools, government, hospitals, insurance, utilities and more. And users also use the kiosks to pay for their fines or as we call it here in Singaporean terms - “summons”. You might have guessed it by now, our guest is indeed payments provider AXS. AXS is an interesting company to look at because of various reasons surrounding its ownership, the changing business environment and recent partnerships.  In July 2023, DBS Bank had agreed to sell a 77.8 per cent stake in AXS to locally based private equity firm Tower Capital Asia. The move was said to provide AXS with the financial backing needed for its regional expansion and technological upgrades. But what should we know on this front, and what has been done one year since the news emerged? Meanwhile, to cater to changing consumer preferences and the increased need for integrated payments solutions, AXS came up with a newly launched app called AXS Drive to simplify parking payments without the need for physical cards. The question though is – how important is this for AXS financially?  On the partnerships front, the firm also teamed up with Aleta Planet to launch remittance service through UnionPay. But what were the reasons behind the move, and how much money is in this space? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jeffrey Goh, Group Chief Executive Officer, AXS.