[ad_1]
Amidst the backdrop of a world cost-of-living disaster, an increasing conflict within the Center East and rising considerations of a potential recession, Singapore’s tech and enterprise panorama has navigated uneven waters over the previous yr.
Some suffered, some persevered, whereas some have even thrived within the face of adversity. Listed below are some notable headlines which have made waves within the tech and enterprise panorama in 2023:
1) Inventive Know-how CEO passes away at 67
Sim Wong Hoo was extensively often known as the founder, chairman, and CEO of Inventive Know-how, a Singapore-based firm identified for its modern and high-quality audio merchandise.
Sadly, he handed away in January on the age of 67, forsaking a legacy as a profitable businessman and modern thinker.
Sim began his profession in 1981 by opening a small laptop restore store in Chinatown together with his childhood pal Ng Kai Wa. Again then, the duo’s first mission was a multilingual laptop with sound and music capabilities, but it surely was not profitable on account of a scarcity of demand and third-party help.
In 1988, Sim established an workplace in the USA and started promoting the standalone Sound Blaster sound card, which shortly gained recognition within the gaming business and led to the success of Inventive Know-how.
4 years later in 1992, the corporate grew to become the primary Singaporean firm to be listed on the US Nasdaq inventory alternate, and by 2000, Sim was named Singapore’s youngest billionaire on the age of 45.
Beneath Sim’s management, Inventive Know-how grew into a world model, with a popularity for producing among the finest audio merchandise available on the market. One of many firm’s most notable merchandise is the Sound Blaster, a line of sound playing cards that revolutionised private laptop audio and helped set up Inventive Know-how as a pacesetter within the discipline.
At the moment, Inventive has world workplaces in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley, and final yr, it raked in gross sales of US$61 million.
2) Honestbee owes S$319.9 million to former workers, distributors, collectors
Based in 2015 by three Singaporean entrepreneurs — Joel Sng, Isaac Tay, and Jonathan Low — honestbee shortly gained momentum as an e-grocer. The corporate skilled exceptional success inside months of its operation, efficiently establishing a presence in eight international locations throughout Asia by the top of 2018.
However as swiftly because it achieved success, its downfall was equally speedy – in 2019, the corporate confronted a monetary disaster on account of poor capital administration by its co-founder and CEO on the time, Joel Sng.
As the corporate grappled to keep up its stability, Joel was finally ousted from his place, with Ong Lay Ann assuming the function of CEO. Though Ong launched into a sequence of strategic measures to reorganise the corporate, these makes an attempt proved futile as the corporate was finally positioned underneath liquidation in July 2020.
In Might this yr, the failed grocery supply startup was reported to have had no funds obtainable to settle excellent money owed to former workers, distributors, and different unsecured collectors, amounting to S$319.9 million. BDO, the appointed liquidator for honestbee, was solely in a position to get well S$720 from extra funds associated to “electrical provides.”
The corporate’s sole secured creditor, Formation Group, has solely managed to get well S$700,000 from honestbee’s property, a far cry from the US$4 million value of debentures held by the enterprise capital.
3) Circles.Life executes layoffs amidst allegations of poisonous administration
Singapore’s thriving tech business, as soon as hailed as a beacon of progress and innovation, has been hit exhausting by the tech winter.
This downturn within the tech sector has compelled a number of distinguished corporations, together with digital telco Circles.Life, to implement important layoffs earlier in June.
Whereas the precise variety of workers affected by the latest layoffs stays unverified, it’s estimated to be round 20 to 30 workers. This comes after an earlier spherical of layoffs in Might, which reportedly impacted at the least 50 workers.
Circles.Life, which presently has practically 1,000 workers in keeping with LinkedIn, noticed numerous departments affected, together with Advertising, P&C, Engineering, Product, and the whole B2B Circles X staff.
Affected workers had been apparently supplied with the usual severance package deal – a two-month discover interval and gardening go away – relying on their length of employment.
In response to among the digital telco’s workers, the latest layoffs had been dealt with in an identical method to a earlier spherical of layoffs in 2020. Staff had been knowledgeable by means of particular person conferences dubbed “fast sync” with their line managers, whereas some acquired bodily letters or emails on the day itself.
Nevertheless, the layoffs weren’t communicated to the broader firm.
In response to Vulcan Publish’s inquiries concerning the layoff, a spokesperson from Circles.Life refuted the claims, dismissed the remarks from the affected workers as “unfaithful”. Nevertheless, the ex-employees confirmed their “settlement of separation and launch” from the corporate to Vulcan Publish, contradicting the spokesperson’s assertion.
4) 3AC senior executives get nine-year ban from MAS
In June 2022, Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital didn’t pay its money owed, so it needed to bear liquidation.
Later in January 2023, the founders of Three Arrows Capital resurfaced, in search of US$25 million to fund its new enterprise referred to as GTX.
Three months in the past, Three Arrows Capital returned to the new seat once more because the Financial Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed nine-year prohibition orders (POs) towards its former senior executives Zhu Su and Kyle Livingston Davies, for a number of violations of the Securities and Futures Act 2001 (SFA) and Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Enterprise) Rules (SFR).
The POs, which got here into impact on September 13, 2023, bar Zhu and Davies from participating in any regulated exercise and prohibit them from taking part within the administration, directorship, or substantial shareholding of any capital market providers agency ruled by the SFA.
The strict motion by MAS comes because of a sequence of regulatory breaches dedicated by Three Arrows Capital and its prime administration.
After reprimanding the agency again in June 2022 for a number of infractions, together with offering false data to MAS, additional inquiries by MAS revealed extra violations of the SFA and SFR dedicated by Three Arrows Capital between August 2020 and January 2022.
5) Seize co-founder Tan Hooi Ling to step down from working roles by end-2023
On Might 25, Southeast Asian ride-hailing and supply large Seize introduced that co-founder Tan Hoo Ling has knowledgeable its board of administrators of her intention to step down from her working roles at Seize, together with her directorship, by the top of this yr. Transferring ahead, Tan can be transitioning into an advisory function with Seize.
Tan co-founded Seize with Anthony Tan, Group CEO, in 2012 and labored at different corporations within the US earlier than rejoining Seize in April 2015. The corporate was often known as MyTeksi again then, beginning out as a cell app that linked passengers with licensed taxis in Malaysia.
MyTeksi quickly expanded to different international locations within the area as GrabTaxi, together with Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, the place the taxi market was extremely fragmented and unregulated. Tan performed a vital function in establishing the corporate’s operations in these international locations, leveraging her consulting background to navigate advanced regulatory and logistical challenges.
The corporate later rebranded to Seize in 2016 to mirror its growth past simply ride-hailing to a brilliant app platform that additionally gives meals supply, digital funds, and different providers.
Up till January 2022, Tan led numerous operations and expertise groups as the corporate’s Chief Working Officer (COO). At present, she leads its expertise organisation, and is mentoring the next-generation of expertise leaders. Tan has additionally served as a member of Seize’s Board of Administrators since its public itemizing in December 2021.
6) Seize’s potential acquisition of foodpanda
In September, Supply Hero, the German-based guardian of meals supply service foodpanda, reportedly confirmed preliminary talks to dump its Asian operations to a potential purchaser.
The ultimate worth of the acquisition may attain over €1 billion (about S$1.5 billion), and would come with foodpanda’s branches in Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Laos.
Singapore-headquartered Seize has been floated as a possible purchaser of foodpanda’s operations in Southeast Asia. The corporate, nonetheless, has but to verify the studies and no official assertion has been launched.
The acquisition of foodpanda would place Seize aa a digital monopolist in Southeast Asian meals deliveries, the place it already instructions 50 per cent of the market (or extra), challenged solely by foodpanda, which holds round 30 to 40 per cent, relying on the nation.
Previous to studies of the potential buyout, Seize introduced its acquisition of Singapore’s third-largest taxi operator Trans-cab again in July.
The acquisition, which can even strengthen Seize’s place within the ride-hailing business, was estimated to be round S$100 million and consists of Trans-cab’s fleet of greater than 2,500 taxis and private-hire automobiles, upkeep workshop, and gasoline pump operations.
7) Flash Espresso winds up Singapore enterprise
Simply two months in the past, homegrown espresso chain Flash Espresso shuttered all its 11 shops in Singapore. In response to media studies, the founder and CEO of the corporate, David Brunier, alongside director Sebastian Hannecker, filed for a voluntary winding-up on account of its liabilities on October 11.
Flash Espresso’s Singapore enterprise owes over S$14 million to over 150 collectors, together with workers who’re owed as much as two months’ salaries and CPF contributions.
At its peak, the corporate was opening as much as three new shops per week and managed near 250 shops and 1,400 workers throughout numerous markets in Asia. The espresso chain additionally efficiently closed a US$50 million Collection B funding spherical in Might following a spherical of layoffs final November.
Nevertheless, the corporate has really struggled to fundraise for a while, with its newest US$50 million funding spherical representing an amassed sequence of capital injections because the begin of 2022.
Whereas it has achieved breakeven profitability throughout a number of markets in the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the corporate noticed this reverse after the lockdown restrictions had been lifted.
In the meantime, the espresso chain’s enterprise in Thailand was acquired by enterprise capitalist (VC) Flip Capital for an undisclosed sum final month. The VC agency plans to increase the espresso agency’s presence throughout the nation by opening greater than 100 new shops within the subsequent two years, bringing the overall variety of shops within the nation to over 200.
8) Musk’s takeover of Twitter and rebrand to X
In April of 2022, Elon Musk made his first bid to take Twitter over for US$44 billion, which valued the corporate roughly 38 per cent above its inventory worth on the time. About 10 days later, Twitter accepted the provide.
Within the following months, a prolonged authorized battle ensued as Musk sought to place the deal on maintain till July, when he finally withdrew his provide. Nevertheless, by October 2022, the billionaire lastly closed the deal to purchase the social media service.
On his first day, Musk begun clearing home, firing Twitters CEO, CFO, basic counsel and head of Authorized, Belief, and Security. By January 2023, the corporate was left with simply 2,300 workers, a far cry from the 7,400 folks the corporate had employed previous to his takeover.
Alongside the layoffs, Musk has additionally made a sequence of adjustments to Twitter’s platform, together with the introduction of recent options for its paid subscription customers (in any other case often known as Twitter Blue customers) comparable to Tweet limits of as much as 25,000 characters.
In July, Musk rebranded the social media app to “X”, changing the app’s iconic blue hen brand with a brand new brand, which contains a white X towards a black background.
With the rebranding, Musk goals to create a “tremendous app” that may compete with the likes of WeChat, extending its capabilities past a mere social media app.
9) WeWork recordsdata for chapter
World coworking firm WeWork filed for a Chapter 11 chapter in New Jersey federal court docket on November 7 as the corporate grappled with hefty losses and an enormous debt pile. In an preliminary submitting, the corporate reported money owed of US$18.65 billion towards complete property of US$15.06 billion.
The SoftBank Group-backed firm, which as soon as valued at US$47 billion, has been in turmoil since its plans to go public in 2019 imploded following traders’ scepticism over its enterprise mannequin of taking long-term leases and renting them for the brief time period and worries over its hefty losses.
Whereas WeWork lastly managed to go public in 2021 at a much-reduced valuation, it has continued to lose cash regardless of its main backer sinking tens of billions to help the corporate. 4 months earlier, the corporate introduced in its second quarter earnings launch that it had “substantial debt” about its potential to proceed its operations over the subsequent yr.
The corporate has additionally seen the departure of quite a few prime executives this yr, together with CEO Sandeep Mathrani.
Nevertheless, WeWork assured that it’s “enterprise as regular” in Singapore because the chapter submitting is restricted to WeWork’s areas in the USA and Canada.
WeWork first entered into the Singapore market by means of their acquisition of homegrown coworking firm Spacemob in 2017. The corporate presently operates 14 areas throughout Singapore, serving purchasers starting from authorities businesses to MNCs and start-ups.
10) Richard Teng replaces CZ as Binance CEO
Whereas Binance stays the most important participant within the crypto business worldwide, like most crypto corporations, it hasn’t had a very good yr following the deflation of the crypto bubble and collapse of certainly one of its essential rivals, FTX, in November final yr.
Along with the bear market, the crypto firm has additionally discovered itself embroiled in a authorized saga with US authorities, with the US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) — the federal company tasked with defending traders and sustaining the integrity of the securities market — submitting a lawsuit towards Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), in addition to a number of different entities throughout the platform’s company conglomerate.
The authorized saga got here to an finish earlier in November as the corporate has reportedly agreed to pay an enormous US$4.3 billion settlement advantageous. Its CEO had additionally stepped down and is anticipated to pay an extra legal advantageous of US$150 million.
CZ’s substitute is Richard Teng, a Singaporean who joined the corporate in 2021 because the CEO of its Singapore enterprise earlier than transferring as much as develop into the worldwide Head of Regional Markets.
Richard first began his profession on the Financial Authority of Singapore, and after a profitable 13-year stint, throughout which he ascended to the function of Director of Company Finance, he transferred to the Singapore Trade as Chief Regulatory Officer between 2007 and 2015.
After leaving Singapore and instantly earlier than becoming a member of Binance six years later, he served because the CEO of the Abu Dhabi World Market monetary centre, which, throughout his tenure, started attracting crypto corporations in search of to function out of the UAE.
ANEXT Financial institution, a Singapore-based digital financial institution regulated by MAS, empowers startups with straightforward and accessible financing to gasoline their enterprise progress and growth.
Featured Picture Credit score: Ivan The – Operating Man/ Inventive Know-how/ Roslan Rahman by way of AFP/ X/ Alamy/ Doc.Investx
Additionally Learn: Tech layoffs to digibanks: 10 headlining occasions in S’pore’s tech and enterprise scene for 2022
[ad_2]
Source link
