Glydways’ Post

Mark Seeger used to be the Innovation Director at Ogilvy Singapore, which is where I first met him over 10 years ago. Yes, that's Ogilvy, the advertising company, a company I used to cover when I was in EDB. Mark had a very interesting idea then, which he called the magic retail mirror. The idea basically was that you had this screen outside a clothing store and as you walked past, you would see a mirror image of yourself, but decked out in clothes recommended by the store. If that intrigued you, you would press a button, walk into the store and the clothes (in the appropriate sizes) would be waiting for you to try. Apparently the key in retail is to get the customer to try on stuff in the fitting rooms. That is most of the way to making a sale. Getting a customer into a store to browse isn't enough. In fact, ideally you want minimal space for browsing (that just takes up rent) and maximum space for fitting rooms. The idea sounds super simple, right? And today we have all sorts of magic retail mirror apps. But remember, this was almost 15 years ago. The magic mirror was a digital rendering of you. It was a moving, not static image. It literally was a mirror image. It had to look like you. It couldn't look like an avatar. The clothes had to look realistic and stylish on you. The software had to guess your size correctly and perhaps more crucially, couldn't get your gender wrong. The amount of digital rendering was incredible. We talked to various people, including Digipen, the digital animation school in Singapore. Unfortunately, the idea never panned out. Perhaps it was too ambitious and ahead of its time. But till today, I am still intrigued by it. I also brought Mark and Jack Sim to see PUB's water infrastructure and we talked about ground source heat pumps in Singapore. After Mark moved back to the US, he became a builder of electric motorcycles under the "Mission Motorcycles" brand. You can view a video of him and Jay Leno discussing it here - https://lnkd.in/gsHJ6X7Z To me, Mark's this super rare combination of brilliant rocket scientist + eloquent marketing guy. His latest venture Glydways has raised US$100m+ in funding from the likes of Sam Altman, Bill Gates etc. More details in the 8 min Bloomberg clip below which you should watch. The best way I can describe Glydways is that it is an on-demand autonomous vehicle that picks you up (and you alone) for the ride, for the price of an unsubsidised public transit fare. The vehicle runs on dedicated narrow road lanes, but otherwise needs no special infrastructure. Glydways now wants to bring this solution to the crowded cities of Southeast Asia. If it really works as planned, I think it would be great for a city like Jakarta and especially for a new city like Nusantara. Congratulations Mark on your journey thus far! Yee Kwang Seck Jack Sim Kelvin Tay 鄭潤星 Jackson Chia Patrick Poh Vigneswaran Sellakannu Joseph Situwali Johan YH TAN George Hadi Santoso

🚀 Exciting news in the world of transportation optimization! Optym just got a strategic boost with an investment from Venture 53! 🎯 This game-changing partnership is set to tackle the industry's complex challenges, especially in the full truckload market. Ready to see how Optym's billion-dollar-impact strategies evolve? Keep an eye out, as they're gearing up for some major moves with Venture 53's backing. #Optym #Venture53 #TransportationInnovation #StrategicInvestment #LogisticsOptimization Check out my latest blog post for the full scoop! 👉 [Link to blog]

Curious about what it takes to build a disruptive company? Check out Chris Zeunstrom's interview with Authority Magazine to learn about: 🎨 Maximizing creativity and collaboration in your team; 🤝 Building a more ethical and user-centric internet; 💡 Revolutionizing industries by reducing reliance on third-party data; 🤷♂️ Funny mistakes that can happen in the process. Enjoy the read!

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 IFRS defines "control" as "the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the asset". In investments, this often translates to % voting rights in an entity. There are 3 thresholds that an investors care about in Vietnam: 36%, 51% and 65%. Unless otherwise specified in the company charter, 36% allows you to veto decisions put to a vote in a shareholder meeting (i.e. no decision can be made without your acceptance), 51% allows you to make any decisions not being vetoed, and 65% allows you to make any decisions under any circumstances. Obviously, the extent of control will depend on the degree of fragmentation in the ownership structure, e.g. Mr. Long and family own around 34% of Hoa Phat, Vietnam's largest steelmaker, nearly 5x higher than Dragon Capital, the second biggest shareholder at 7%. Quantitatively, control premium and discount for lack of control ("DLOC") are premiums/ discounts applied to controlling or minority interest in entities. The shares of majority shareholders will be worth more than the shares of minority shareholders, i.e. equity value is not proportionately allocated among shareholders. Studies indicate that the median control premium to be somewhere between 20% to 40%. But depending on the circumstances, control premium can be worth a lot more or less. For instance, SpaceX is currently the most valuable startup in the world at private valuation of USD175b in Dec 2023. Elon Musk, who has 79% voting control, aims to use it as a vehicle to carry his lifelong Mars colonization mission. This means that minority shareholders should not expect any cash flows going their way in the foreseeable future. Fundamentally speaking, no cashflow equals no value, all the value of SpaceX effectively belongs to Mr. Musk. Similarly, Vinhomes, Vietnam's biggest real estate developer, is 67% owned by Vingroup. Despite posting strong revenue and profitability, Vinhomes stopped paying dividends since 2023 and substantially increased its leverage to finance Vinfast, a risky EV venture that has nothing to do with VHM's core operation. Again, minority shareholders value is severely cannibalized by the majority shareholder. Consequently, VHM's P/E is only 7.49x, much lower than its peers, and its stock price has been on a downward trajectory for the last 12 months. On the other hand, when a business is well governed with an established track record, the value of control may be limited. Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway are examples of this. As a minority shareholder, is is not enough to understand the business you are investing into. You must also dig into the character and plans of the majority shareholders/ management to determine if they consider your best interests at heart. https://lnkd.in/gHUeTE8k

UK Business Angels (UKBAA) together with Advanced Propulsion Centre UK are looking for clean automotive, transport, and mobility innovators to participate in an exclusive investment pitching event.   When: Tuesday 30 April 2024 Where: Mathy & Squires, based in The Shard, London   Could your business revolutionise the automotive industry? Does your solution have the potential to transform vehicles and fleets or innovatively use transportation data? Are you accelerating innovation in Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM)? If you answered yes and are actively raising equity investment, you can apply for your chance to be part of the Mobilise the Future: Clean Mobility showcase.   As an entrepreneur applying to pitch, you should ensure your application: Demonstrates your innovation solves an identified problem Has a clear addressable market and presents a strong capacity for growth and scale Validates investment is being raised in the range of £250k – £3m   Application closing date: 29 March 2024. Read on 👇 https://lnkd.in/dmffU_gn

Half of the technologies that will change the world have not been invented yet. 💡 What does it mean for the industry? Discover the challenges and how to tackle them with Juliana Garaizar, General Partner at Malaika Ventures:

What an inspiring talk! This episode with Reinaldo Normand, we talked about the latest paradigm shifts driven by #technology and #entrepreneurship and how large corporations will adapt (and have to adapt) to the new generation. Reinaldo Normand has an extensive experience as an entrepreneur founding and venture technology startups in the US, China and Brazil. #innovation https://lnkd.in/efYgva66

Are you curious about the ways in which startups and industry thinkers and leaders are finding ways to make the HVAC market more energy efficient and in essence more environmentally positive? We found a great article that outlines the top 10 HVAC industry trends for 2024, and takes a closer look at some of the start-ups pioneering these trends. Article link here : https://lnkd.in/d62tXtCw Comment and let us know your thoughts and your take on the future of the HVAC industry!

Big news in the world of advanced batteries! Looks like there's a race on between solid-state, lithium-metal and silicon to be the super-batteries for the next generation of EVs. The past year has seen funding round, factory buildout and OEM customer announcements at a much faster pace than the prior year. Very exciting that Washington state is shaping up to be the locus of silicon anode manufacturing.