Libsyn Directory

[Investor Talk] Blockchain investing and 2020 key developments with John Ng from Signum Capital

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Release Date: 02/12/2020

[Founder Talk] How Blockchain unlocks value in data with Bruce Pon from Ocean Protocol

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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 Ocean...

[Investor Talk] EdTech investing in China with Veronica Zhou from Blue Elephant Capital

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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...

[Founder Talk] What it takes to win the social commerce race with David Ng from Pollen

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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...

[Expert Talk] The business of fashion and retail with Stefaan Le Clair from Berenike Global Fashion Management (Part 2 of 2)

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

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 expert...

[Expert Talk] The business of fashion and retail with Stefaan Le Clair from Berenike Global Fashion Management (Part 1 of 2)

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

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...

[Investor Talk] The truth about angel investing with Sam Gibb from Endeavour Ventures

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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 involved with angel...

[Expert Talk] Achieve long-term investment success through asset allocation with Freddy Lim from StashAway

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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...

[Investor Talk] Crypto as a new asset class with Paul Veradittakit from Pantera Capital

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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....

[Expert Talk] Investing through crisis: Covid-19 Macro market update with Tian Yang from Variant Perception

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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...

[Investor Talk] Decode AI investing with Kelly Chen from DCVC

BEYOND UNICORN: Private Investors' Knowledge Base

Today’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...

More Episodes

Today 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 enough progress on its product and have burnt through their runway will die. Companies that have survived the last 3 -4 years will really take on shape and form in 2020.
Equity is the primary form of fundraising among blockchain companies nowadays; and there are two types of companies fundraising in the market – 1) companies which have achieved their growth targets and need more cash to obtain faster growth 2) companies which ran out of money and the only thing that is left to sell is its equity.
In anticipation of bitcoin halving in May 2020, price correction is believed to happen, with prices of Bitcoin surging up later in the stage. But this halving would not be the same as the past few times.
Signum Capital’s portfolio companies highlighted in the interview include Konkrete (https://www.konkrete.io/) and Lightnet (https://lightnet.io/)

Tweetables

“2020 will be the year when we see companies that have survived again, for the last three years, four years, that they really take on shape and form and to produce really strong results” @john_ng_p

“There'll be a correction…overall, I do see prices of Bitcoin surging up later in the stage” @john_ng_p

“So many unicorns have died last year. I think we should find another animal” @john_ng_p

Episode links

Signum Capital: https://www.signum.capital/

Koncrete: https://www.konkrete.io/

Lightnet: https://lightnet.io/

Lightnet launch: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/uobs-private-equity-arm-co-leads-42m-investment-in-thai-fintech

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