Under The Radar

Making cables for MRT lines, Jewel Changi Airport and Gardens by the Bay – that’s what we’re going to talk about today.  Founded in 1980, our guest Tai Sin Electric makes cables and wires for a diverse range of industries for both the private and public sectors and in all categories of industrial, commercial, residential and offshore and marine projects.  They include items like low voltage cables...

Have you ever seen a dog tucked in his or her dog bed and napping so well that made you go “I wish I could be like him or her?” Well, that could soon become reality for you, with one startup in the US building and selling what they call the world’s first dog bed, but for humans!  Founded in 2021, Plufl was started by two college students at the University of British Columbia when they were craving...

Put fintech, payments and affiliate marketing together – and you get a company called Fave.  Founded in 2015, Fave prides itself as Southeast Asia’s fastest growing platform that allows users to pay using QR codes and receive cashbacks on their digital transactions. The firm also enables users to buy and redeem restaurant deals, spa, massage, travel and activity offers using its apps. It even prov...

Semiconductors have been the talk of the town for the past two years, have you heard of a new type of chip called chiplets? Think of it this way. According to IBM Research, computer chips today are made using a technique called systems on a chip or SOC, where multiple computer functions such as general processing, data storage are put into a single chip.  While this way of building chips has worke...

Today we’re going to talk about a company that makes scaffolds – not for buildings, but scaffolds that can be implanted into the human body for bones and tissues to grow.  Started in 1992, our guest is Osteopore, an Australian and Singapore based medical technology company commercialising a range of products specifically engineered to facilitate natural bone healing across multiple therapeutic are...

It’s all about salmon and trout today as we talk to one of the suppliers of land-based fish farming facilities.  Founded in 2017, Assentoft Aqua is a Danish aquaculture engineering company.  It provides fish farmers with what’s known as RAS or Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems that save space, pipes and minimises carbon footprint and the amount of investment needed per produced ton of fish.  The f...

Today we’re going to talk about a company that you would have come in contact with on a day to day basis. Make a guess – this is a company that started as a bakery brand making pork floss buns.  Bingo if you’ve guessed Breadtalk. Founded in 2000, Breadtalk Group is now an F&B group with multiple concepts ranging from bakeries, restaurants  and even food atriums.  With close to 700 retail store...

It’s all about helping smaller companies gain access to green financing today.  While companies may think that they need to collect vast amounts of data to track sustainability goals, the fact is that a bulk of that required may have already been tracked in their day-to-day processes. This can be data on their electricity consumption, or carbon emissions, collected automatically through the firm’s...

Today we’re going to bring you an inside look into a luxury brand called Bally. This is a brand that many may have heard about but yet not exactly know about.  Some might think of Bally as a company with a rich heritage in shoemaking, but it was actually founded in 1851 as a family run ribbon factory, three years before Louis Vuitton was born.  The firm expanded rapidly as it industrialised its pr...

Today we’re going to talk about a company whose products and services are used by over 1.4 million customers and over a billion users in more than180 countries.  Make a guess – how does eSignature company DocuSign sound? Founded in 2003, DocuSign is a pioneer of electronic signatures and helps businesses automate how they prepare, sign, act on and manage agreements. Put simply, it is a tech firm t...

The market for hard-to-find fashion and electronics is heating up with Gen Z and millennials consumers increasingly valuing self-expression and individuality.  And one way for consumers to purchase these rare items is through the secondary market and in particular through e-commerce platforms.   But in a situation where the supply is limited and demand is high, how do consumers determine what is a...

Today we’re going to bring you an inside look into a pizza company that grew from a food truck from South Korea to a so-called ‘baby unicorn’ by South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups.  Founded in 2016, GOPIZZA is an AI powered single serve pizza brand that was known for the incorporation of technology in its operations.  For one thing, it developed a parbaked dough recipe and an oven called...

Satellite technology has brought about a number of benefits for people on the ground, such as improved weather forecasting and communications.  In particular, a type of satellite called the Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR satellites, can monitor ground activity 24/7 and penetrate rain, smoke and cloud cover, allowing governments to monitor weather conditions such as tropical storms and wildfires. ...

Investing in next-generation infrastructure for the future – that’s what we’re going to talk about today.  Named after the tallest tree in Singapore, Seraya Partners is a Singapore headquartered private equity firm that focuses on mid-market Asia infrastructure.  The firm invests in areas such as digital infrastructure and the energy transition, and aims to address what it describes as “the region...

It is all about the bowl of noodles we eat as we speak to one of the leading restaurant groups in Hong Kong today.  Bingo if you’ve guessed Tam Jai International, the company behind the TamJai Yunnan Mixian, Tam Jai SamGor Mixian and Japanese udon brand Marugame Seimen.  Listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited since October 2021, Tam Jai International has rapidly expanded its global reac...

Today we’re going to speak to a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group that focuses specifically on travel arrangements. Launched in 2016, Fliggy is an online marketplace that helps users in and out of China to book for flights, accommodation, train tickets, group travel essentials and attraction tickets.  The firm said it leverages Alibaba Group’s product and technical development abilities to...

This conversation is set to get you itching to go on your next holiday. Make a guess as to who our guest is for today.  Drumrolls – we’re talking to the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, Scoot, or the airline that merged with Tigerair Singapore about seven years ago.  Since taking to the skies in 2012, Scoot has carried over 82 million passengers and has a fleet of over 50 aircrafts, comp...

What is the one common factor between an astronaut on the international space station, billionaire Elon Musk, and South Korean actor Song Joong Ki? The answer might make you go ‘What, Seriously?’ Now, are you ready for the answer? Well, the answer is that all three of them eat Kopiko candies at some point in their lives.  If you’re a K-drama lover, you might have noticed Kopiko candies appear out...

You might have heard of Jotun paint or the Jif dishwashing liquid (they are known as Cif in Singapore and carried by Unilever, but that is a story for another day), but did you know who is the player behind these brands? What about a Norwegian conglomerate called Orkla ASA?  Founded in 1654, Orkla is a leading industrial investment company focusing on brands and consumer oriented companies. Just t...

We’re setting our sights on the commodity sector today as we speak to a Singapore-headquartered international commodity trading house. Founded in 2007 as a company facilitating trade flows from Africa to Asia, Valency International has since established a sizable global presence with offices and operations in 22 countries and a workforce of over 2,600 people.  The firm’s global footprint now exten...

Today we’re going to talk about a medical issue that up to 60 per cent of children will have by the age of six.  And that is a condition called Otitis Media, also known as OME or ‘Glue Ear’. According to HealthHub SG, glue ear refers to the collection of fluid in the middle ear which frequently occurs after an upper respiratory tract infection.  While the issue resolves by itself in most cases, th...

Today we’re going to deep dive into an all-time favourite – S-Reits that is!  Our guest is the Lendlease Global Commercial Trust Management, the manager of Lendlease Global Commercial Trust Management or Lendlease Reit. Listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2019, Lendlease Reit was established with the principal investment strategy of investing in a diversified portfolio of stabilised income produci...

We have slightly more than three weeks until Chinese New Year and that means it is also time to indulge in snacks like your pineapple tarts and even bakkwa or barbecued meat! We’re bringing up Bak Kwa because our guest for today is barbecued pork jerky maker Bee Cheng Hiang.  Just to take you down memory lane, the firm started in Singapore in 1933, where an enterprising street hawker peddled the s...

It’s all about storing your computer data safely and securely through the use of hardware solutions.  You might recall storing data in hard disk drives in the past which often has slow reading and writing speeds.   Fast forward to today, super-fast SSDs or Solid State Drive that use NAND-based flash memory to store data are more commonly used, as they are said to be more reliable and efficient tha...

We’re going to talk all about the disposable gloves that gained prominence over the pandemic today.  Founded in 1989, our guest is Thailand's largest gloves producer Sri Trang Gloves Thailand.  The firm makes a wide range of natural latex and nitrile examination gloves as well as general-purpose disposable gloves that cater to a wide variety of uses such as healthcare and medical, food processing...