034: The State of Singapore's DEEPTECH, VC & START-UP Ecosystems w/ NTUitive's David Toh
08/07/21 • 53 min
Keeping up with Asia’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems is challenging because the region’s DeepTech, Venture Capital and Start-up ecosystems are incredibly complex and diverse. Today, we are going to try to break it down by focusing on the ecosystems in just one country - Singapore.
We are going to discuss three key topics. First, we’ll look at DeepTech to discover the latest trends and to understand what unique challenges start-ups in this space face.
Second, we’ll look at the state of Venture Capital in Singapore, and, more specifically, is there enough VC funds available to support the longer commercialisation cycles of DeepTech Startups.
Finally, we’ll discuss how the start-up ecosystem is evolving and find out what cool new innovations are on the horizon.
To do this, we are joined by David Toh, the Interim CEO of NTUitive, which is the innovation and enterprise subsidiary of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which is ranked Number 12 in the latest World University Rankings.
Show Notes:
01:00 Intro to NTUitive, including how it supports start-ups and engages with the technology innovation ecosystem.
06:00 How does NTU look at DeepTech? And some examples of DeepTech solutions coming out of NTU.
13:30 What unique challenges do DeepTech start-ups face? And due to their longer commercialisation cycle, how do they set near-term success metrics?
19:30 Where has NTUitive been successful, and where is there room for improvement?
21:30 David’s journey from semicon engineer to equity analyst to fund manager to the world of Venture Capital.
27:45 Some of the start-ups David has helped on their start-up journey
29:45 What’s the current state of Singapore’s start-up and venture capital ecosystems?
37:45 What characteristics does David look for in start-ups - and are there any red flags that would prevent him engaging with a start-up.
43:45 Let’s look five to ten years in the future, and DeepTech has been incredibly successful in Singapore. How did the ecosystem evolve to enable that success?
Alternatively, let’s say that DeepTech bombs. What mistakes did the ecosystem make?
48:30 What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about creating a start-up? Or someone who wants to go into Venture Capital?
Keeping up with Asia’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems is challenging because the region’s DeepTech, Venture Capital and Start-up ecosystems are incredibly complex and diverse. Today, we are going to try to break it down by focusing on the ecosystems in just one country - Singapore.
We are going to discuss three key topics. First, we’ll look at DeepTech to discover the latest trends and to understand what unique challenges start-ups in this space face.
Second, we’ll look at the state of Venture Capital in Singapore, and, more specifically, is there enough VC funds available to support the longer commercialisation cycles of DeepTech Startups.
Finally, we’ll discuss how the start-up ecosystem is evolving and find out what cool new innovations are on the horizon.
To do this, we are joined by David Toh, the Interim CEO of NTUitive, which is the innovation and enterprise subsidiary of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which is ranked Number 12 in the latest World University Rankings.
Show Notes:
01:00 Intro to NTUitive, including how it supports start-ups and engages with the technology innovation ecosystem.
06:00 How does NTU look at DeepTech? And some examples of DeepTech solutions coming out of NTU.
13:30 What unique challenges do DeepTech start-ups face? And due to their longer commercialisation cycle, how do they set near-term success metrics?
19:30 Where has NTUitive been successful, and where is there room for improvement?
21:30 David’s journey from semicon engineer to equity analyst to fund manager to the world of Venture Capital.
27:45 Some of the start-ups David has helped on their start-up journey
29:45 What’s the current state of Singapore’s start-up and venture capital ecosystems?
37:45 What characteristics does David look for in start-ups - and are there any red flags that would prevent him engaging with a start-up.
43:45 Let’s look five to ten years in the future, and DeepTech has been incredibly successful in Singapore. How did the ecosystem evolve to enable that success?
Alternatively, let’s say that DeepTech bombs. What mistakes did the ecosystem make?
48:30 What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about creating a start-up? Or someone who wants to go into Venture Capital?
Previous Episode
033: From Cooking with FIRE to Embracing TECH w/ Burnt Ends' Dave Pynt
The global pandemic has wreaked havoc on many industries - with the Food & Beverage industry one of the hardest hit. Most countries, at some point, have had to ban dining in - and even once that restriction is lifted, they have limited the restaurant capacity to only 50-70% of the pre-pandemic levels.
To survive financially, restaurants have had to pivot their business and operating models online to create new revenue streams.
In this episode, we are going to look at the role tech has played in helping restaurants overcome these unprecedented challenges.
If you live in Asia and like food, you’ll know today’s guest, Dave Pynt. Dave is the chef and owner of the one Michelin starred restaurant Burnt Ends - which is currently ranked #14 on Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants and #59 globally.
Show Notes:
01:30 Intro to Dave and how a surfer from Western Australia developed into one of Asia's top chefs
08:00 Dave's restaurant portfolio, including 2 x Meatsmiths in Singapore, another Meatsmith in Doha and The Ledge in the Maldives
10:50 How Dave leveraged tech in the pre-Covid world
12:45 How the Burnt Ends Group has used tech to transform their operations
18:30 How does a restaurant with no IT department drive digital transformation?
24:00 What's next for Burnt Ends Group (hint: BE to move from Teck Lim to Dempsey - and a Brew Pub launching in 2023)
And more chats about Dave's favourite places to eat, the importance of good ingredients and what it's like to cook a wild boar on a spit on the slopes of Mt. Fuji.
Next Episode
035: WATER moves up the SUSTAINABILITY Agenda w/ Xylem's Renee Peet
In recent years, Sustainability has risen to the forefront of the strategic objectives for companies and governments. What concerns me is that when I speak with some of the leaders in ESG, they say there is still too much talk...and too little action. Well, that’s not the case for all companies.
In this podcast, we’ll speak to Renee Peet, Head of Product Management and Marketing for Xylem, about how they lead by example. Xylem is ranked as one of the, if not the, world’s best company with regards to sustainability objectives and deliverables. If you want to learn how you - and your company - can make a difference, I truly recommend you listen to this episode.
Show Notes:
01:45 What does water have to do with Sustainability?
05:00 Who is Xylem - and what role do they play in the Sustainability ecosystem?
08:15 What types of solutions does Xylem provide - and how do they differ for developed and developing markets?
13:50 Who are the major players in the Water Sustainability ecosystem?
14:30 What impact has the pandemic had on your customers? Are they moving forward or holding back?
18:30 How does Xylem drive innovation and how do they engage the wider ecosystem to deliver it?
23:30 Driving a Sustainability agenda at a high level is easy - how does Xylem ensure that it permeates to all levels within the organisation?
29:30 What are the biggest challenges the industry faces?
32:30 Bottom line - what’s the worst case scenario if we don’t address the world’s water issues?
34:30 And the best case scenario - what does the ecosystem need to do to make sure we don’t hit the worst case scenario?
36:30 What can I - and we - do on a personal level to help avoid water / climate disaster?
Do your part, check out: https://www.xylem.com/en-ms/watermark/
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/techburst-talks-543325/034-the-state-of-singapores-deeptech-vc-and-start-up-ecosystems-w-ntui-69934238"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to 034: the state of singapore's deeptech, vc & start-up ecosystems w/ ntuitive's david toh on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy