Under The Radar

Providing HR recruitment services to specifically the renewable energy industry. That’s what we are going to talk about today.  Incorporated in 2021, Sheffield Green is the renewable energy spinoff of Sheffield Energy, which is a recruitment firm specialised in serving the oil and gas sector over the past 30 years.  The subsidiary provides end-to-end services ranging from supplying technical and management staff to peripheral services including training as well as administrative paperwork.  We’re talking about Sheffield Green because it has recently completed its registration to list on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Exchange.  The firm is offering 24.0 million shares, of which 3.6 million are for public offering. The counter is set to begin trading on 30 October, with an issue price of 25 Singapore cents apiece.  This will mean a valuation of S$46.6 million for Sheffield Green if all shares on offer are subscribed.  Question is – what are some of the opportunities that Sheffield Green wants to tap as the O&G industry rides on the green wave? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Bryan Kee, Chairman, CEO and Executive Director, Sheffield Green.

Is the Museum of Ice Cream a museum or an attraction? That’s the question we’re going to pose to its business leader today!   Founded by global lifestyle brand Figure8, the Museum of Ice Cream consists of fully immersive spaces like a pool of rubber sprinkles, a unicorn headed slide and more.  With locations in Austin, Chicago, New York City and Singapore, the firm calls itself a pioneer in the experience-first industry that helps to rediscover the kid in the young and old.  But how does the Museum of Ice-Cream define the space in which it operates in as far as its pricing strategy, product pipeline and valuations are concerned?  Speaking of which, the company’s parent Figure8 was valued at US$200 million in 2019 after receiving US$40m of Series A funding led by consumer venture capital firms including Elizabeth Street Ventures. But what numbers are we looking at right now, four years down the road? What are some of the firm’s recipes for sustainable revenue growth in the longer term? In the meantime, Toronto-based company Lighthouse Immersive – which is behind the “Immersive Van Gogh” exhibition – had reportedly filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy earlier this year.  What does this suggest about the challenges experiential museum operators face? And are we seeing a consolidation in the industry in the near term?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Pirakash T, Head of Revenue & Growth at Museum of Ice Cream.

What do shipping and property investments have in common? Well, not much, except for the fact that they are both key pillars of our guest’s business. Listed on the Singapore Exchange since 2007, Uni-Asia is an alternative investment group that specialises in creating alternative investment opportunities. Its investment targets are mainly handysize dry bulk ships and properties.  But what does this mean exactly? Well, ship investors can approach UniAsia for ship investments, while operators can reach out to the firm for ship chartering and management.  On the property side of things, Uni-Asia develops small residential properties in Tokyo under its ALERO brand, which are sold for profits. Aside from building properties for sale, the firm also provides property assessment management services in the country.  As you can see, the two engines of growth are very much uncorrelated. But the question is – how far has that boosted the firm’s resilience?  Meanwhile, Uni-Asia had in August reported a 74% on-year drop in first half profits. But why is this the case? How does the firm assess its reliance on the two drivers of growth? Does it intend to move beyond its niche in the near term? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Lim Kai Ching, Group Chief Financial Officer, Uni-Asia.

Giving small and medium enterprises the support they need to sell to the world. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.  Started all the way back in 2015, Amazon Global Selling is a programme that empowers entrepreneurs and SMEs to expand their brands globally.  It does so by providing sellers access to Amazon’s global infrastructure, as well as its network of over 200 million Prime customers in overseas Amazon stores. Also part of the deal – over six million business and institutional buyers in the US, Europe and Japan. Meanwhile, the programme also equips sellers with tools, knowledge resources and training collaborations to help sellers succeed in e-commerce.  Such tools help sellers choose the right products for international commerce and to promote their global brands respectively. With growing competition in the e-commerce market within Southeast Asia, how important is Amazon Global Selling in helping to boost e-commerce sales through Amazon.com in the region?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Anand Palit, the Head of Amazon Global Selling for Southeast Asia.

You might be on the lookout for personalised service and good customer experience when you’re out dining, or on a vacation.  But did you know that even the manufacturing industry is looking to increase their ‘human touch’ to serve customers better? Founded in 2021, our guest for today is Phasio, which is an end-to-end manufacturing interface for precision engineering firms.  The platform supports collaboration between manufacturers and customers by allowing both parties to view and comment on the topics such as the design of parts.  Manufacturers can also personalise the orders through the platform, including offering tailored pricing for different orders. But how does it work exactly, and how big of a market gap is Phasio trying to fill with its solution? Meanwhile, the firm raised US$2.5 million in October in a seed round led by VC firm Airtree Ventures. Investors who took part in the round included 500 Global, Entrepreneur First and private investment office Gattaca Ventures.  Question is – what is the strategic value provided by this group of investors and how does the additional funding position the firm for future growth in Asia and Europe? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Sudharshan Raman, Co-founder and Chief Product Offiicer, Phasio.

Helping people eat, sleep, exercise and hopefully, feel better. That’s the aim of our guest Mito Health.  Started by Seedly co-founders Kenneth Lou and Chew Tee-Ming this year, Mito Health is a startup focusing on personalised health plans for executives keen on looking beyond annual health check-ups and supplements to maintain their health.  It aims to guide users in improving their diet, exercise and sleep with diagnostics results and wearable data.  Question is – how different is Mito Health from other Executive Health Screening providers and what additional value do they bring on board?  Meanwhile, the company recently raised over S$1.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Forge Ventures.  The firm is also backed by a number of angel investors including ShopBack founder Henry Chan, Carousell founder Quek Siu Rui, Glints founder Oswald Yeo, Rainforest founder JJ Chai and Singlife’s innovation head Varun Mittal.  But what strategic value does this group of angel investors bring to the table?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Kenneth Lou, Co-Founder and CEO, Mito Health, and Ryan Ware, Chief Medical Officer, Mito Health.

It may be common for university or pre-university students to give tuition services to their younger peers to earn their first paychecks.  But can you imagine building a multi-million dollar business out of it? In fact that is exactly what our guest for today did.  In fact, 25-year-old Evan Heng started Zenith in 2019 to help Junior College students thrive in the Singapore education system.  The entrepreneur opened his first tuition centre with S$100,000 of his savings and now has over four centres, 90 staff and a revenue of – get this – a whopping S$6.7 million in 2022.  The firm says it is now serving over 10% of all junior college students in Singapore every year. It has also opened the firm to institutional investors, having raised US$1.4 million in a seed funding round in July this year.  The firm had said then that it wanted to expand from physical tuition centres to education technology, but why is this the case? What does this suggest about the limit to growth in the physical private tuition centre business, and what is next for Zenith Education? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Evan Heng, CEO, Zenith Learning Group.

FUJIFILM may be best known for its photo imaging and digital products such as film and cameras. But did you know that FUJIFILM also makes skincare and cosmetic products? In fact, observers said FUJIFILM’s cosmetics business could have been why the firm survived the digital revolution. One of the brands that you may have seen in shopping malls is Astalift, which was launched in 2006.  While making cosmetics may seem like a stretch for a photo imaging company, there are synergies between FUJIFILM’s cosmetics and its core camera and photo imaging business. For one thing, Astalift was mooted when researchers at FUJIFILM realised that the technology to prevent ultraviolet rays from oxidising printed photographs, can also be used for anti-aging products in skincare. That said, the process to expand into skincare and cosmetics is not one without challenges. But what should we know about FUJIFILM’s diversification into the industry?   Also – how important is FUJIFILM’s skincare and cosmetics unit to the organisation as a whole right now and what are some expansion plans for the business unit? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jason Wong, Head of Business Unit and Brand Manager, Consumer Healthcare, FUJIFILM Asia Pacific.

You might know of Shell as an energy company or a petrol kiosk operator. But today we are going to bring you another part of the energy giant’s business that you might not know about.  Our guest is from Shell Business mobility. This is a B2B arm which seeks to collaborate with businesses that have a fleet of commercial passenger cars, or even light and medium duty vehicles. Some of the solutions provided to fleet owners include quality fuel that keeps the engines clean, digital payment and solutions which allows owners to track fuel usage and mobility expenses, and even fleet management services which provides owners visibility of vehicle utilisation. But how broad ranging is Shell’s B2B business really? Meanwhile, with electrification being a key trend in the mobility sector, Shell is also looking at providing EV charging solutions and carbon compensation schemes for businesses.  Question is, how much investments are poured into infrastructure to help fleets electrify, and how far will investing in the green move position Shell Business Mobility for its next bound of growth? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jeane Toh, Head of Business Mobility, Shell Singapore.

Today we’re going to talk about a company that makes projectors, virtual meeting tools, as well as the equipment for doctors to be able to view X-ray films.  The name of this company is Flemish technology company Barco which was founded all the way back in 1934.  Speaking of Barco, did you know that the firm started out as a business that assembles radios from parts imported from the US? In fact, that is also why the company is named the Belgium American Radio Corporation, or "Barco." No surprises as to why the company started out in the radio market, which was expanding rapidly in the 1930s. But as technology evolves, so did the business.  It went into TV manufacturing in the 1940s and 50s, and is now working on solutions relating to projection and immersive experiences for sectors such as healthcare, enterprise and entertainment. But which is the most important business vertical for Barco right now, and how will a rise in demand for immersive experiences shape how the company positions itself in future?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Gan Ta Loong, Global Executive Vice President, Immersive Experience, Barco.