DIGITIMES Asia Venturing

Industry 5.0, ESG and cross-border co-creation: The rise of industrial tech turns eyes toward Asia

"There are a lot of places where Asia will be the first," observed Nicolas Sauvage, president, and founder of TDK Ventures. For Ken Forster, executive director and founder of Momenta Ventures, Asian hardware manufacturers will have a large role to play in a future characterized by edgeware – software ...

Venture studio, the right answer to trigger Industry 4.0?

AI, Big Data, Industry 4.0…by now we have already been familiar with these buzzwords defining the latest industrial revolution and technological progress. However, as the hardware and software industries increasingly overlap, few have begun to contemplate how the companies of the future will be built ...

Industry 4.0 is bringing Asia closer to Europe; Momenta Ventures is a key driver

The post-pandemic world is unleashing a wave of digital transformation through a wide variety of sectors. Facing a series of supply chain bottlenecks, the industrial sector has also been gripped by this wave of digital transformation, especially when a series of bottlenecks induced by the pandemic and ...

These VCs and CVCs are diving into Industry 4.0; and you?

he post-pandemic world is seeing an increase in investment in industrial and supply chain technologies. Induced by the pandemic and other factors, the drive for supply chain resilience has prompted more funds to look into the sector. Some venture capitals, such as Siemens' Next47 and Eclipse Ventures, have ...

From cassette tapes to Industry 4.0: How corporate venturing charts TDK's way forward

Remember TDK, the familiar logo appearing on those audio cassette tapes? While one might be quick to associate the Japanese electronics manufacturer with a bygone era, TDK remains a major player in electronics. With a current market capitalization of US$12 billion, TDK has been the main manufacturer of ...

A 'hardware renaissance' is coming: Where does Asia stand?

In 2021, a record US$45 billion funding went into industrial and supply chain startups. COVID-19 has accelerated global investments into a growing spectrum of technologies that will ultimately offer us an unprecedented level of visibility, predictability, and efficiency over manufacturing and logistics ...

Is Asia Leading Innovation?

2021 December

Asia Venturing VI: All eyes on Asia innovations

In Asia, a few factors make the impact of innovation more pronounced than in other markets, including the "Big 4" semiconductor players – China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan – within the Asia Pacific region alone, consumers' openness to new technologies, competent tech talents, mobile internet. At the ...

2021 December

Taiwan is making its way to be global innovation hub: Tina Lin, MD of sales & operations in Google Taiwan

Probably not many people know that the world's first Android-native smartphone and the world's first Chromebook were both born in Taiwan. Taiwan also currently contributes to the developments of many Google products, including Pixel phones, smart home, and wearable devices, Chromebooks, and ...

2021 December

Next big thing and megatrends: Interview with Sascha Pallenberg, chief awareness officer for aware_

Taiwan is well known as an ICT hardware manufacturing hub, taking the leading positions in the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) and wafer foundry services. However, many of the brilliant innovations initiated by Taiwanese companies did not get their deserved recognition probably because they are ...

Capital Market is Flat

2021 November

Asia Venturing V: Global capital market flat? New trends emerging in Asia

Is the global capital market getting flat? Are late-stage investors chasing early-stage startups a new trend or a fad? Is Rivian SPAC reasonably valued? Experts discussed these questions at the fifth round of Asia Venturing, a monthly event co-powered by Anchor Taiwan and DIGITIMES. Alex Lee, founder, and CEO of ...

2021 November

6 megatrends in capital market: Interview with Duncan Davidson, co-founder of Bullpen Capital

Companies around the world kept tapping the capital market with trillions of dollars. In 2021, some US$8.7 trillion has been raised through equity sales, bond offering, and loan deals, according to the data of Refinitive, also cited by Financial Times. This year, SPACs boom and the number of IPOs also broke ...

2021 November

New economy in Taiwan likely to grow threefold in 10 years: Q&A with QIC CEO Alex Lee

In a pre-event interview with DIGITIMES, Quantum International Corp. (QIC) founder and CEO Alex Lee shared his insights on the triple forces boosting the growth of Taiwan after the US-China Trade War and the COVID-19 pandemic. He also made an impressive prediction on the new digital economy of Taiwan ...

How Do Global Unicorns Leverage Asia

Can Asia see the unicorn boom?

In a world where "money is cheap," unicorns, the companies with a valuation of more than $1 billion, are born in an accelerated mode during the COVID-19 pandemic era. There are already 860 unicorns as of the second quarter this year, and likely to top 1,000 next year, according to Eric Huang, VP of DIGITIMES ...

Supply chain flexibility is crucial, says Cheney Wang, VP of supply chain and Taiwan GM of Latch

Latch was founded in 2014 by a group of former Apple employees and began trading on Nasdaq on June 7th, 2021 under LTCH. Through a SPAC listing, it raised $453 million and values over $1.5 billion. The system of Latch is designed to bring all devices ...

Top investment opportunities in Asia: Q&A with Christine Tsai CEO and founding partner at 500 Global

Having co-founded 500 Startups (later rebranded to 500 Global) in 2010, Christine Tsai (CT) started out with a very different strategy from other venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley which were predominantly focused on the US market. She built a diversified portfolio in different industries and invests ...

Global unicorns surge in 2021: Interview with Richard Koo, principal at DNX, and Casey Lau, head of Asia at RISE

The number of newborn unicorns has again hit record levels in 2021, following a strong year in 2020. There are more than 800 unicorns around the world as of September of 2021. By geographic regions, the US still dominates in terms of the number of unicorns, followed by India and China, according to The Asia Banker ...

Innovating Traditional Industries

Asia Venturing III: Startups may add value to traditional industries by ESG innovations

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) are becoming parts of important criteria to evaluate a company's value. ESG is crucial for a company not only because it brings positive changes to society, but also because it provides another indicator for its investors to evaluate a company's ability to mitigate risks and identify opportunities...

Asia Venturing III: Advice for startups and SMEs on enabling innovations in traditional industries

The ever-changing business environment has urged companies to always stay agile to prepare for the unexpected. Innovation, then, becomes the main factor for companies in different industries to ensure their organic growth. The traditional industries, such as textiles and apparel, bike manufacturing, food, and even real estate, are also looking for innovations either internally or via collaboration with partners...

Science behind chic sportswear brand: Q&A with Gulshan Kumar, GM of lululemon Taiwan

The value of the global activewear market was estimated at $353.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a 3.7% CAGR over the next six years, reaching $439.17 billion by 2026, according to investment firm Comprar Acciones. The activewear industry has always been very competitive; staying innovative is key to differentiation...

The next quantum leap in green mobility: Q&A with Marcel Yang, Giant special assistant to CEO

Climate change is changing many aspects of our everyday life. Transportation is one of them. Seeing the boom of e-bikes and the opportunities of green mobility, Marcel Yang, Giant Bicycles' special assistant to CEO, mentioned that Giant is creating an economic ecosystem in the cycling industry where all the partners can work closely together. He also shared his experience in driving innovations in this bike ...

Innovation trends worth noting in Southeast Asia: Q&A with Rachel Lau, RHL Ventures managing partner

The southeast Asian region has become another innovation hub in the world. With a valuation of US$340 billion in 2020, the region attracts many venture capital firms and startups to innovate the local economies. Rachel Lau, managing partner at RHL Ventures, a Malaysian private investment firm that focuses on growth capital investments in Southeast Asia and the US, shares her insights on the latest ...

Tech-Driven Mobility

Asia Venturing: EV future relies on infrastructure and battery improvement

Some of the issues affecting the future growth of electric vehicles (EV) are battery improvement, charging infrastructures, and the greater electric grid capacity. The auto industry generally accepts that US$100/kWh for battery packs is the price point needed for EV to be cost-competitive with gasoline-powered vehicles...

Asia Venturing: EV becomes a game-changer

EV is disrupting the automotive industry and its supply chain. It is initially taking place in personal cars and then continues to revolutionize public transportation. This revolution is also opening up the automotive system, which tends to be more proprietary and attracting multiple players to join the game...

Asia Venturing: EV is taking over faster than expected

The booming of the EV market will come sooner than expected. The latest announcements from the US, EU, and China are heralded by the coming of the EV era. The EU just proposed to ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles in the EU from 2035. The US...

Mobility trends: Q&A with tech venture specialist Vitaly M Golomb

Vitaly M Golomb is a technology investment banker with over 20 years of experience on all sides of the table as a venture-backed CEO, venture capitalist, M&A, and financing advisor. Golomb, who hosts a popular podcast on mobility, will be the host of the fireside chats with MIH Alliance CEO Jack Cheng...

E-bus platforms for emerging markets: Q&A with Monika Mikac, CBO of QEV Technologies

Monika Mikac is CBO of Barcelona-based QEV Technologies, and former COO of Croatian EV startup Rimac Automobili. She started her career as a journalist but joined Rimac when the company was...

EV market likely to reach sweet spot in 2025-2026, says MIH CEO

The global electric vehicle (EV) market, judging from the progress in technological development, is likely to reach its sweet spot in 2025-2026, according to Jack Cheng, CEO for the MIH Alliance, a Foxconn (Hon Hai)-led open platform for developing EVs...

Inside Cross-border Innovation

Asia Venturing: Cross-border investments by corporate VCs are key driving force for tech innovation

The first panel talk at Asia Venturing online forum, held on July 16, 2021 by DIGITIMES and Anchor Taiwan, featured the vice pesident and general manager of Business Solutions Group at Qisda Corporation Michael Lee...