Under The Radar

Founded by the co-founder of foodpanda and budget hotel chain Zen Rooms, Kiren Tanna, Una Brands is an e-commerce aggregator that acquires and scales e-commerce brands based in APAC.  The company focuses on acquiring companies with strong independent branding and which have annual revenue of between US$300,000 and US$20 million, and uses technology to optimise and automate product placement and marketing across a range of distribution channels.  Una Brands currently acquired and operates over 20 e-commerce brands across six countries including ergonomic furniture brands ErgoTune and EverDesk+.  It recently announced an additional US$30 million in Pre-Series C fundraise, bringing the total firm’s raise over the past year to US$60 million. On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian found out what’s next for Una Brands from Kiren Tanna, Co-founder & CEO, Una Brands. 

We have come to almost the end of the first quarter this year, and before we kick start April, let’s take a look at an asset class that analysts and observers are keeping their eyes on for this year - hospitality Reits.  With borders reopening and tourism resuming, market watchers believe 2023 will be an exciting time for hospitality trusts.  But there are several questions to address as well. For one thing, what will competition look like within the industry after two years of pandemic? Also - to what extent will the recent turmoil in the banking sector affect Reit managers when it comes to financial decisions? And is 2023 a good time for acquisitions and expansion?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Serena Teo, CEO of the Managers of CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAS).  They talked about the trust’s 47 per cent on-year increase in distribution per stapled security for the half year ended December, as well as the CLAS’ plans ahead.

Which camera would you use if you have to take a selfie or a picture right now? Would you whip out your mobile phone or would you bring out a DSLR camera instead?  Well, we're asking this because our guest for today is from world renowned camera maker Canon.  While Canon may be a familiar name, what we might not know about is the company’s efforts to diversify into new products and industries.  For one thing, it entered the office equipment market with the debut of the world's first 10-key electronic calculator. It also developed Japan’s first plain paper copying machine, which was introduced in 1970. And we want to find out how the company’s culture of diversification has helped it weather technological disruption when digital cameras were replaced by smartphones and when printing documents were no longer needed with the advent of file transfers via the cloud? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Vincent Low, Head of Enterprise Business, Singapore Operations, Canon Singapore.

Founded in 1891, MSD is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceuticals. The company is among the top 10 globally with a revenue of US$59.3 billion in 2022. With the global pharmaceutical industry expected to grow to around US$2.4 trillion in 2029 according to Fortune Business insights, we want to find out what’s next for the company, particularly here in Singapore.  On that note, MSD announced the opening of two manufacturing facilities to produce vaccines and biologics in Singapore back in October last year. But what is the status right now, and what does the recent rise in vaccine production facilities in Singapore say of the environment the country provides for pharmaceutical businesses? On Under the Radar, Drive Time's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Dr. Sheriff Abdullahi, Managing Director, Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei, MSD for more.

How sustainable is humour as a value proposition for a business? That’s the question we want to ask our interviewee today. Our guest for today is from Hepmil Media Group. You might better know them as the parent company of leading comedy brands SGAG, MGAG and PGAG.  Hepmil Media Group, which first started connecting with Singaporeans through localised humour, iconic memes and videos posted on SGAG, has since grown to a network of companies and creators that engages and entertains millennials and Gen Zs.  More recently, Hepmil Media Group also launched a joint venture with US digital media company Bent Pixels to better connect esports content creators in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines with brands.  But how does the company define the market it is in and what is it doing to ensure that it has the last laugh? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Karl Mak, Co Founder & CEO of Hepmil Media Group to find out.

Have you ever passed through automated immigration at airports and wondered who are the people building these biometric systems?  Does NEC ring a bell? Yes, that’s one of the companies behind your smoother experience at airports.  But the company’s operation goes way beyond just biometric systems. NEC is a leading information and technology provider whose expertise includes solutions for carrier networks, biometric identification, enterprise applications and infrastructure and more.  And we want to speak to the people behind NEC’s APAC headquarters in Southeast Asia on what’s next on their cards.  Turns out they’re working on solutions such as smart digital business cards in Singapore, as well as solutions to achieve a goal called Society 5.0. But what is in it for the firm to do so, and what are the trends influencing the information and communication technology scene right now? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Teh Chong Mien, Managing Director (Singapore), NEC APAC  for more.

Do you still remember the time where you signed off your first employment contract with a ballpoint pen? Well, I’m asking this because we’re going to talk all about signatures, and in particular the rise of e-signatures today.   According to Deloitte, estimates of the global e-Signing market reached between US$2.3 billion and US$2.8 billion depending on the source in 2020. And with the COVID-19 pandemic changing the way businesses do things, the market has become one of the fastest growing in the world.  It is now projected to grow to over US$14 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of some 28 to 30 per cent. But with the market heavily dominated by major players such as DocuSign, how do other players in the industry assess the market and competition?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Daphne Ng, Co-founder and CEO of Dedoco.

If you recall, we spoke with used car marketplace Carro some time last month. Today we’re going to bring you an inside look into yet another marketplace - but for alternative investments.  According to the company, Alta is Southeast Asia’s largest digital marketplace for alternative investments ranging from direct investments to late stage private companies, private equity and VC funds, asset backed securities of luxury assets, real estate and more. Since 2016, the marketplace has completed over 1,000 transactions valued in excess of US$600 million and has created access for investors to invest in over US$22 billion worth of mandated opportunities globally.  But the question is - how will the ongoing turmoil in the global financial sectors and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank affected demand for alternative investments on the platform? And what does this mean for Alta in screening investment opportunities available on its platform? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Kelvin Lee, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alta.

The Great Resignation is a term that we’ve heard a lot over the past year.  The term, which was coined in May 2021, described the phenomenon where workers quit their jobs after deferring their decisions to do so early on in the pandemic.  There’s a reason why I’m bringing this term up again - because the hiring scene is what we’re going to talk about on the segment today. According to Statista, the global executive search industry grew some 17 billion euros between 2012 and 2021. But how sustainable is this trend amid the current state of the current economy, and what does this mean for headhunters? Also - what does the ongoing series of tech layoffs and the banking crisis in the US mean for companies in the executive search industry?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Sam Belcher, Managing Partner, Asia Pacific, and Katherine Ho, Executive Director, Corporate Governance, Financial Services at The Edge Partnership for more. 

At this time of the day we want to ask the question - what’s for - not dinner, but what’s for tea break!  How about bubble tea? Speaking of bubble tea - here’s a fun fact. Did you know that Southeast Asia spent US$3.7 billion on bubble tea and similar “new tea” drinks in 2021?  That, by the way, is according to a report published by venture outfit Momentum Works and payments startup qlub, which also found that Indonesia’s bubble tea industry ranked first in terms of market size with an annual turnover of US$1.6billion.  Singapore, despite being the smallest nation in the region, came in fourth with an annual turnover of US$342 million.  The numbers tell us just how much Singaporeans or Southeast Asians love our bubble tea. But it also raised more questions as to what the sheer market size means for bubble tea chains and the expansion of their franchise operations.  Also with over 60 active bubble tea brands in Singapore and 31,000 stores and other retail channels in Thailand, is the market oversaturated now? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Martin Berry, Founder & Chairman Gong Cha Global.