Under The Radar

Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman. That’s right - we’re going to talk all about fashion today with Tapestry - the parent company behind the three brands I mentioned earlier.  The company recently released its fiscal 2023 second quarter financial results, where it raised its profit outlook for the full year.  Tapestry also added about 2.6 million customers in North America in the quarter - nearly half of them were Gen Z and millennials. Closer to home, the company also saw robust growth in parts of Asia, including in Japan, which together outperformed expectations.  But why is this the case, and what does that strong demand and younger customer base mean for the company in terms of product offerings and even pricing?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Mrs Campbell O’Shea, Vice President and General Manager at Tapestry Southeast Asia and Oceania for more.

Whole-cut meat products, printed on-demand for you. Sounds like the magical replicator from Star Trek? Well did you know that this is becoming a reality these days? In fact, an Israel-based biotech company called Steakholder Foods is combining stem cell technologies and 3D printing to create meals on demand.  The company also developed a process that has achieved 50 times more growth in cell production yield. But how far are we from making 3D printed meat accessible to the man in the street?  Steakholder Foods, which is listed on the US NASDAQ, also recently received its first grant of up to US$1 million (double check that it is in US dollar terms?) from the Singapore Israel Industrial R&D Foundation, to develop 3D printed structured eel and grouper products with this company called Umami Meats. But what can we expect here? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Arik Kaufman , CEO and Co-founder of Steakholder Foods.

Batteries are on the table today, and no - we are not talking about your AAA batteries here.  Rather, we’re going to talk about lithium iron phosphate batteries that can be used to power electric vehicles, as well as battery packs and grids that can be used to power factories, data centres and communities. On that note, a Michigan startup called Our Next Energy is aiming to double the range of electric vehicles with such battery solutions. It is also aiming to do so in a more sustainable way by using materials that are abundant in supply and available locally.  But how does it actually work and how is the startup transforming the battery market, and how is it tapping the US Inflation Reduction Act in its production plans? The company also recently announced that it has closed a massive US$300 million Series B, with Temasek being one of the investors. But what is the company doing with the money? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Mujeeb Ijaz CEO and Founder of Our Next Energy for more.

We’ll talk all about semiconductors manufacturers as the industry continues to face a number of headwinds including a pandemic induced supply shortage.  According to Auto Forecast Solutions, almost 18 million vehicles will have been removed from production plans by the end of 2023 since the chip shortage started. And with US-China’s geopolitical tensions at the top of minds of industry players, how would that reshape the global supply chain for semiconductor chips,as companies adopt more onshoring and friend-shoring of supply chains? What will this mean for Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and mainland China, which accounted for over 70% of global production in 2020, according to S&P Market Intelligence? What is the impact on Singapore’s semiconductor manufacturers then? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Tan Yew Kong, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Globalfoundries Singapore. 

Are you afraid of having your blood drawn? But what if the blood test could detect cancer causing genetic mutations and viruses, and allow for early treatment?   I’m asking this because we are going to look at a company called Lucence, which makes blood tests to detect cancers.  Founded in 2016, Lucence was spun off from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).  It had in 2019 unveiled a blood test called LiquidHALLMARK that detects 14 types of cancers, 50 genetic mutations and two viruses. Lucence had said then that LiquidHALLMARK is the world's first blood test that simultaneously detects both cancer-causing genetic mutations and viruses with 99.9 per cent accuracy. But how much money does this represent? How does the company assess its competition, and how is it treading the fine line in ensuring that it achieves the profits it wants yet ensure that the tests remain affordable and accessible?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these burning questions to Dr Tan Min-Han Founder, CEO and Medical Director at Lucence.

Chat GPT, Generative AI and the money behind them! That’s what we’re going to talk about on the segment today. Our guest for today is from Microsoft, which has invested over US$10 billion in ChatGPT maker Open AI.  The company also launched earlier this month new versions of its Bing internet search engine and Edge browser powered by the newest technology from OpenAI.  At the launch, Microsoft had said that every percentage point of market share it gains in the search advertising market could bring in another US$2 billion of ad revenue.  But much of a share is the company aiming for? Also - what is the financial value of such Generative AI solutions at scale for businesses and how would that shake up the tech industry? How much of a first mover advantage can Microsoft gain as other tech giants play catch up? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Richard Koh, Chief Technology Officer & Customer Success Lead, Microsoft Singapore for more. 

Ever wondered which are the companies who give startups their first investment cheque? Well, our guest for today Quest Ventures is one such company.  The Venture Capital firm, which was founded in 2011, is a leading venture capital firm in areas such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce and marketplaces, entertainment, finance and even food. It’s also invested in a number of well-known companies such as 99.co, Carousell, Shopback and Hepmil.  But what exactly does the company look out for when it comes to investing? How does it assess the business environment it lies in, and what are some of its recent investments?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with James Tan, Managing Partner, Quest Ventures for more. 

Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL is a term that has become increasingly popular in recent years. But ever wondered what the phenomenon means for credit data companies and credit bureaus?  Well that’s what we’re going to talk about in this segment with the world’s largest credit data company Experian, which was also appointed to operate Singapore’s buy now, pay later bureau by the Singapore FinTech Association and the BNPL Working Group last year.  Aside from Buy Now Pay Later, we’re also going to look at some of Experian’s future plans. The company, for one thing, is working with small businesses to help them tap credit data to reduce costs. But how worthwhile is it for data companies to work with SMEs?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Kabir Khanna, General Manager, Credit Services, Experian Singapore for more.

If you recall, we spent quite some time talking about startups and unicorns over the past week. Today, we’re going to look at how a financial institution specialising in SPACs and deal advisory help blank cheque companies access a quality deal pipeline. Speaking of SPAC IPOs, the market for special purpose acquisition companies has slowed quite a bit over the past few months. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, there were 86 SPAC IPOs in 2022. That’s a sharp drop from the 610 deals seen in the year before, as increased regulatory scrutiny and rising interest rates weighed on activity.  But how will this change as economies recover from the troughs of the pandemic, and should interest rates level off towards the end of the year? What would this mean for advisory firms then? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Crystal Zhang, Managing Partner at Arc Group.

We’re going to wrap up the week talking about the automotive marketplace landscape here in Southeast Asia and in particular, we want to talk about Southeast Asia’s largest online car retailer Carro.  The firm had achieved its unicorn status in June 2021 after a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and continued to see stellar growth thereafter. According to technode global, the firm achieved profitability in its 2022 financial year. It said last September that the company is tracking over S$1.3 billion in run-rate revenue in FY2022 , and is positioned to produce another two times growth in revenue in FY2023. But what is the status so far and is the company on track to meet its target? The company is also venturing into Japan, where it estimated the used car market is double the size of the whole of Southeast Asia. And as always, we want to find out how the experience has been for them thus far. On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Aaron Tan, Co-Founder and CEO of Carro for more.