Shows
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Founder Talk] How Blockchain unlocks value in data with Bruce Pon from Ocean ProtocolToday’s guest is Bruce Pon, CEO of BigchainDB and founder of Ocean Protocol. We began our conversation by probing into the value of data as an asset, what are the problems preventing the value of data being unlocked and how Ocean is solving that problem by building a protocol for data sharing, how it envisions global adoption through community building and industry partnerships. We discussed about the Ocean token – its usage, value creation and learnings from its IEO and ICO. Finally, we imagined a future where Ocean Protocol becomes the de facto protocol for access control and an Ocea...
2020-08-0543 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] EdTech investing in China with Veronica Zhou from Blue Elephant CapitalToday’s guest is Veronica Zhou, partner of Blue Elephant Capital, the first pure play education technology focused early stage investment fund in China. We began our conversation by segmenting the Chinese education market into 3 broad segments, namely to consumer (2C), to school (2S) and to business (2B). We then delved deeper into the complex sales system in the “to school” segment; how Covid-19 created the paradigm shift in online education. And lastly, we discussed Blue Elephant Capital’s investment approach and the key investment theses in the next 5 years. Key highlights from our conversation Chi...
2020-07-1543 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] The importance of a well-functioning healthcare system with Yemisi Ajumobi from the World BankToday’s guest is Yemisi, an epidemiologist specialising in infectious disease at the World Bank. We began our conversation by giving an overview of the virus causing Covid-19, what we knew and what remains to be learnt; we discussed the intricate balance between country priorities and global coordination needed to prevent and respond to a global pandemics like Covid-19; the six building blocks of a well-functioning healthcare system, and the progress made on the global coordination efforts on vaccination and lastly the one thing that we hope governments around the world can learn from the current crisis. ...
2020-06-3000 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Founder Talk] What it takes to win the social commerce race with David Ng from PollenToday’s guest is David Ng, co-founder and CEO of Pollen, a community sales-as-a-service platform empowering brands to turn their fans into resellers. We began our conversation by diving into Pollen’s business model – understanding the challenges and opportunities of a B2B model versus a B2C model, dissecting the key value proposition and the key stakeholders’ relationships of social commerce, highlighting the difference between social commerce and multi-level marketing. Lastly, we discussed the competitive landscape of social commerce and how Pollen positions itself among the competitors. Key highlights from our conversation Direct to consumer...
2020-06-1638 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] The business of fashion and retail with Stefaan Le Clair from Berenike Global Fashion Management (Part 2 of 2)This episode is part two of our industry talk on fashion and retail. And it follows on from our discussion in the previous episode released two weeks ago. In this episode, we looked at the rise of Direct to Consumer brands, and how technology contributed to this trend; the truth surrounding online and offline retail, the challenges faced by department store and then circling back to considerations of franchising and licensing which were first introduced in the last episode. Finally, we conclude our discussion by zooming out to a more general discussion on overall industry trends. Our...
2020-06-0341 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] The business of fashion and retail with Stefaan Le Clair from Berenike Global Fashion Management (Part 1 of 2)This episode kicks off a mini series of industry specific expert talks. The objective of industry talks is to help investors to structure their thought process when evaluating companies operating in these industries. It also helps entrepreneurs who are looking to start a company in these industries. Today we begin with fashion and retail industry. And our expert guest is Stefaan Le Clair, the Managing Director of Berenike Global Fashion Management. Stefaan’s past industry experiences include being the VP of Retail Europe at Espirit Group, the CEO of denim brand Lee Cooper, the General Manager of Hu...
2020-05-2045 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] The truth about angel investing with Sam Gibb from Endeavour VenturesToday’s guest is Sam Gibb, founding partner of Singapore-based early stage VC fund Endeavour Ventures. We began our conversation with Sam’s personal investing experience as an active angel - how he got started, his view and recommendation on deal sourcing and network building. We then went on to discuss the five things that he looks for in a start-up, the reality of financial return and motivation of angel investing. And finally, on his recent transition from angel to VC and what are his key investment focuses for 2020. Key highlights from our conversation Getting invo...
2020-05-0640 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] Achieve long-term investment success through asset allocation with Freddy Lim from StashAwayToday’s guest is Freddy Lim, Chief Investment Officer and Co-founder of StashAway - an online investment management company headquartered in Singapore. We began with a market update focusing on the thought process investors can use to analyse current market conditions and the key reasons behind the decoupling of financial markets from the real economy. We then shifted our discussion to understand StashAway’s proprietary investment strategy, ERAA - namely the Economic Regime-based Asset Allocation and how ERAA can be applied to understand post-crisis recovery. Top 5 Takeaways Focus on aggregate numbers to make sense of what...
2020-04-2254 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] Crypto as a new asset class with Paul Veradittakit from Pantera CapitalToday’s guest is Paul, Partner at Pantera Capital – one of the earliest institutional Blockchain investment firms. Paul began by sharing his personal journey from learning about Blockchain to eventually joining Pantera Capital to drive its VC funds. We then went on to discuss its investment thesis and how it evolved from the first fund to third fund now, and then broadened our discussion to evaluate popular industry narratives namely cryptocurrency will become a new asset class and Bitcoin’s role as a safe haven asset. And lastly, we explored how blockchain will impact the VC industry. Pls no...
2020-04-0850 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] Investing through crisis: Covid-19 Macro market update with Tian Yang from Variant PerceptionToday’s guest is Tian Yang, Head of Research at Variant Perception – an independent research company on financial markets. Against the backdrop of global financial market sell-off triggered by Covid-19, we analysed the market reactions by segmenting genuine causes of concern vs panic reaction; we discussed lessons learnt from historical black swan events and how these lessons can be applied to the current situation; and how government policies can work together to avoid recessionary pressures created by Covid-19 and lastly, what should private investors do to seize opportunities in these uncertain times. Key Takeaways COVID-19 is curr...
2020-03-2538 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] Decode AI investing with Kelly Chen from DCVCToday’s guest is Kelly Chen, partner at DCVC – one of the earliest VC funds to focus on deep tech investments. We began our conversation with basic definitions, the concept of autonomy, and then went on to discuss commercially viable applications, value creation considerations and thought process when evaluating AI investment opportunities. And lastly touching on broader topics such as the ethical aspect of AI and what lies ahead in the next five years. Key Takeaways Key terms defined: artificial intelligence (AI) is about how to make computers intelligent; machine learning is a subset of AI whic...
2020-03-1140 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Expert Talk] How to outperform benchmark indices with Stephen Yiu from Blue Whale CapitalToday’s guest is Stephen Yiu, Chief Investment Officer of Blue Whale Capital. Stephen has over 20 years of experience investing in public equity. His fund has delivered consistent outperformance since inception two and half years ago. We began our conversation with Stephen’s investment approach, such as reasons for running a concentrated, high conviction portfolio, what underlies his buying and selling decisions, valuation metrics he uses. And then delved deeper into his current holdings, what are the key underlying investment themes and how these themes will play out in 2020 and beyond. Pls note that there is discussion on t...
2020-02-2638 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] Blockchain investing and 2020 key developments with John Ng from Signum CapitalToday I am joined by John Ng – Managing Partner of Signum capital, a Singapore based investment fund focused exclusively in the blockchain space. We began our discussion on the value and specific use cases of blockchain technology, how it disrupts the traditional financial world; then moving onto investment considerations such as the decision to invest in token or equity, how Signum performs its due diligence process; and lastly looking into key future developments including the expected price movement following Bitcoin’s halving in May 2020. Key Takeaways 2020 will be the year of consolidation; companies that haven’t made e...
2020-02-1248 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Investor Talk] ESG Investing with Christopher Aw from Pandan VenturesToday’s guest is Christopher Aw – Managing Partner of Pandan VC, an early stage VC fund acting as a launchpad for technology companies entering into Southeast Asia. We began our conversation by defining what ESG is; how it is used by companies as a guideline to mitigate potentials risks; And then moving onto trends and ideas around active ESG strategy; the difficulty and reality of practising such an active strategy. And also adding the perspective of early stage ventures in our discussion. Key Takeaways ESG is predominantly used as a way to mitigate risks in the publ...
2020-01-2945 min
BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base[Founder Talk] Asia's next Insurtech Unicorn with Roseline Koo from CXAToday’s guest is Rosaline Koo – founder and CEO of CXA group, Asia’s leading Insurtech start-up running a Software-As-A Service health and wellness platform. We began our conversation with Rosaline’s personal story, how an accidental journey that provided her with the knowledge and network to launch and grow CXA, we examined how CXA disrupts the traditional insurance industry, its revenue streams, current and future value drivers and lastly, looking forward to its unicorn aspiration, profitability and exit plan. Key Takeaways Traditional insurance industry is laden with inefficiencies created by the layer of middle...
2020-01-1547 min