Temasek Tracking - Gazillion Entertainment

Video killed the Radio Star

Sex killed the Video Game!

2005  Founded (according to Linkedin info)
2009  Gazillion signed 10 year contract with Disney to develop Marvel Entertainment games
2010  Temasek led Seed funding of US$60m
2017  Series C funding US$30m
2017  Disney terminated relationship with Gazillion
Total funds raised : US$250M

Gazillion is a MMO (massively multiplayer online) game developer and publisher. 

The beginning and the ending of Gazillion are rather confusing. Google search throws up all incorrect information. Which begs the question of whether Temasek actually knew. Since there may be folks out there who may like a clearer narrative, I'll do a full monty here. This has bearings on the review of the investment.

Such creative projects require 3 personalities - the entrepreneur or ideas man, the tech guy, and the development lead man. Ron Hutter was the Ideas man. Hutter is from the education sector. He founded Edusoft, a successful educational company. He also ran a VC firm. He had an idea for an educational material on an MMO platform and in 2005 filed NR2B Research for this project. He searched for a lead designer. John Romero saw the placement on linkedin and that's how they met. Romero is the Tech guy. He had produced several games to his credits. Hutter invited Romero in as co-founder.

Romera said the company name NR8B Research was inappropriate for a video game outfit and he suggested a more street cred name Slipgate Ironworks. They went by that name for a while, but eventually filed name change from NR8B to Gazillion. SEC filing record confirms this.

They recruited David Breviit as the COO. Brevit earned fame for his role in the development of popular video game Diablo. In 2011, John Needham took over from Hutton as CEO. Brevit took over CEO role in 2013.

They commenced work and produced some titles. The big break came in 2009 when Hutter signed a contract with Disney to produce MMO games using Marvel characters. Hutter and Romero disagreed on the issue of Intellectual Property. Hutter-Disney contract was a licensed right for 10 years. Romero refused to do work without IP and he quit in the same year.

Nothing that is published online, from Bloomberg to Crunchbase, describes the beginnings that way. The narrative came from the horse's mouth in an interview by Morgan Ramsay in his book "Online Game Pioneers at Work".

Brevit producted 2 Marvel games which debut in 2013. It was not well received. David Von Dorman had came on board as director representing investor Roth Capital. Dorman ousted Brevit and took over in 2015. Gazillion was recapitalised and revamped. By 2017 the Marvel games improved their player base. There was a Series C funding round. Don't know if Temasek participated. 

Towards the end of 2017 came the bombshell. Disney indicated it did not wish to continue with the relationship which will expire Dec 31. The plug was pulled and Gazillion closed in November with no severance pay for employees and customer deposit claims unsettled. In 2018 Trion Worlds bought out various development assets of Gazillion.

Nothing is published online as to why Disney pulled the plug when the Marvel games were beginning to go viral and about to move into Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Did Temasek know the truth?

It seemed David Von Dorman's real name is Dave Dohrmann, a known sexual abuser. His identity was uncovered by gamers and there was some doxxing going on. Some Gazillion female employees came forward with sexual allegations. Disney was quick to act and pulled the plug.

For those who enjoy a bit of sleaze, an achieved Reddit commentary with more details is here.

On a serious note, one wonders whether Temasek's investment in 2010 was bona fide. Why dive into a project where the lead designer and co-founder has just resigned. Why pour millions into a development with only a 10 year licence?

INVESTMENT WATCH:
The money is all gone. Just wondering if the investment has been written off in 2019 financials.



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Temasek Tracking - Magic Leap

2011 Founded
2017 Funding round US$502 led by Temasek Series E
2018  US$2,300 headset unveiled

What is Virtual Reality:  VR completely replaces the user's real-world environment with a simulated one.

What is Augmented Reality:  AR is also called Mixed Reality. There are 3 features - a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects


AR is the next big leap for computing. Modern smartphones offer a primitive version of mixed reality. Many big names in IT are working on some AR headsets. In 2003 Googgle Glass came and went. Microsoft has their HoloLens which also did'nt take off commercially although it has a more advanced version for industrial and professional use.

Every tech company wants to make AR glasses mainstream. Very very big buck beckons to the first to arrive. But all the big names know that it is still a long way off. Tim Cook said “the technology itself doesn’t exist” for quality AR glasses. 

AR will usher in a whole new age of computing, of new hardware, devices, gadgets, operating systems, applications, games, entertainment etc. It will be a game changer in lifestyles, education, healthcare, research etc. That is why the geek community, the tech firms and investors are terribly excited.

In 2011 Magic Leap was born. Co-founder Rony Abovitz is the typical eccentric and idealistic tech startup guy that can sell refrigerators to eskimos.  He promised a breathtaking futuristic product that will rival television or the telephone in societal impact. Magic Leap will produce not just a headset, but spatial computing technologies that offer consumers high-end AR experiences and tools to support remote working with futuristic mixed reality glasses for everyday computing. It will be a market-shifting creative platform and incredible hardware that would open up a new artistic medium that will replace phones, computers, and every other high-tech screen in our lives.

Big name investors signed up - NTT Docomo Inc., AT&T Inc., Alphabet Inc., (Google's holding co), Alibaba etc. Saudi SWF and Temasek followed suit at a later stage funding in 2017. Abovitz's pitch brought in US$2.6B and Magic Leap became one of the most highly funded tech startup with valuation of US$6-US$8B..

The Real Reality:  Magic Leap spent 7 years in deep secret development. Finally in 2018 it launched Magic Leap One. It's a three-piece system that includes a headset called Lightwear, a small wearable computer called the Lightpack, and a handheld controller. "Spatial computing" is having hologram-like objects projected into three-dimensional space with incredibly realistic virtual objects. It is a functional, thoughtfully designed headset with some very real advantages over competitors. But it doesn’t seem like a satisfying computing device or a radical step forward for mixed reality. It simply did not live up to it's hype. It failed to gain adoption by mainstream consumer public. .

Problems loom: 2019 and Magic Leap shifts its focus to selling its products to companies in the health care, industrial and financial sectors to survive. It began talks to sell the company, holding a view of a valuation of US$10B after an IPO soon to come. The sales is seen as an exit option for investors.Tech companies have been placing bets on the promise of augmented reality products. . A sale is unlikely for a few reasons. The scalability of the company’s technology could be an issue. Magic Leap does not own a lot of the integral sofrware patents. Mainstream adoption is a few years away which means buyers need to have financial capacity to carry the products for several years as AR technology evolves. 

Mega Leap had talks with Facebook and Johnson & Johnson which did not progress to deal talks. 

Then covid-19 pandemic struck. Magic Leap cut its workforce by half, letting go 1,000 employees. In May 2020 investors had to pump in US$500M emergency fund. CEO Rony Abovitz is stepping down.


Why do investors like Temasek keep pouring big money into firms like Magic Leap?

Because they missed out on the Virtual Reality wave, they don't want to miss Augmented Reality wave. The financial wheelers and dealers think they understand the technology but never have the tech sector bona fides and are really only throwing darts hoping to hit a potential success.

Consumers rejected Google Glass and HoloLens. Did Temasek really think consumers want to pay US$2.300 for Magic Leap One and walk around wearing googles the whole day long?


Investment watch:
It's game over. Magic Leap is in survival mode. Is this still carried in the books in Temasek? How much is the investment? My estimate -- US$750m.


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Temasek Tracking -- Hello Inc

2012  Founded
2015  Temasek led funding for US$40M raised US$20M

It's a single product company. It produced a sleep tracker called "Sense" that tracks the noise, light, humidity, and temperature in the user’s bedroom.

The founder is James Proud who is a Peter Thiel Fellow.

Peter Thiel is the billionaire founder of Paypal. The Peter Thiel Fellowship offers college kids US$100,000 if they will drop out of college and take their idea to go create something -- start a company, build anything.

The 'Sense' sleep tracker is the kind of new techy life sciences products that Temasek likes. In the Temasek led funding round 2015 the valuation was put at about US$250M. Total disclosed funding was US$52.9M.

Hello managed to ship their products. In 2017 Hello Inc decided to sell their assets to Fitbit but the deal was not consumed. They continued to find buyers. The company has closed but their website is still available. 

Temasek's invesment numbers are unknown.


Investment Watch:
The monies gone. How much is unknown. Is it still in Temasek's books?




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Temasek Tracking - Ola

2010 Founded
2018 Temasek bought US$225m from investors

Valuation is anybody's guess. In a 2019 funding round it was valued at US$7B.

It is a ride-hailing platform with operations in India, Australia, and London which opened recently 2019. It is a rival to Uber, the biggest ride-hailing company in India. In London, it received a boost when competitior Uber lost it's license due to regulatory breaches.

Group comprises :
- ANI Technologies (parent)
- Ola Fleet Technologies -- Cab-leasing business under Ola Cab brand
- Panda Food India -- food delivery company acquired in 2017
- Vogo -- scooter sharing startup  (invested US$100m in 2018)
- Ola Money Postpaid -- mobile platform for credits to Ola riders
- Ola Financial Services -- financial services arm hived off parent company

Ola plans for IPO within 24 months time. On group basis, Ola is still making losses, especially in food delivery and vehicle leasing.

Although it is considered a later stage venture capital funding status, Ola has a mission for a million electric vehicles on the road by 2021. This warrants further excessive funding requirements.

Prospects:
Both Uber and Ola are seeing ridership growth declining drastically. It has reached saturation for point-to-point cab-hailing.  Ola has seen growth of 90% in 2016, 57% in 2018 and 20% in 2018. A lot of it has to do with driver incentive schemes.  In 2019 growth was down to single-digit. The prime reason for the steep decline in growth is due to savage cuts in driver incentives leading to cabbies switching back their previous jobs before they took up Ola-driving.

With its core ride-hailing growth stagnating, Ola is betting on electric mobility, financial services and food delivery through cloud kitchens to drive growth and profitability in the long term.

Temasek investment:
In 2018 Temasek bought single-digit chunk of shares for US$225m. The acquisition was from the secondary market and sellers appeared to be founder members. Again, Temasek invest in lost making company and provide for founders to divest and make hefty gains. It's an investment where the money doe'nt go into the floundering business, but into the pockets of founders who are reducing their risks.

Temasek is also currently negotiating with Ola’s management to invest more money in the cab aggregator by way of subscription to new shares. Media reports claimed that Ola was in discussions with Temasek and other investors to raise about $1 billion.

The core technology is the ride-hailing app. Unlike Uber which is the technology game, Ola is the technology app and a whole host of brick and mortar plays. Life changing technologies is one of Temasek's theme investment target. Is Temasek missing the wood for the trees.

INVESTMENT WATCH:
In the last fund raising in 2019 for US$500M, Ola had no showcase of high revenue growth numbers to pitch. Instead, it positioned itself as a profitable startup, soon to IPO, and lucrative international markets in UK and Australia and niches in India. There were few takers. The shimmer is gone.

No ride-hailing model in the world is making money. They are all burning cash. Ola has extremely ambitious plans for 1 million electric vehicles.  With plans for 1 million electric vehicles, it looks like massive massive funding ahead. Meanwhile, reports suggest the industry has reached saturation point. Having missed out at the startup phase, Temasek looks keen to build up its stake.

Watch out for IPO within 24 months time.

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Temasek Tracking - CardioDX Inc

2004 Founded
2011 Funding round US$140mm
2012 US Medicare agreed to cover Corus CAD test kit
2012 Funding round US$58 (Temasek joined)
2014 Funding round US$76.3m
2014 IPO cancelled
2017 Funding round US$22.7m
2018 Medicare pulled its coverage on Corus CAD
2019 Closed

A medical diagnostics company developed its flagship product Corus CAD, a blood test kit for heart diseases priced at US$1,195 each.

It sold millions of dollars worth of the test over the course of six years until Medicare in November stopped paying for it. At least 175,000 patients have used the test, the company has said.

In 2015 accusations began to surface that the company knew the test was medically unnecessary Two former employees filed lawsuit that the company had defrauded Medicare out of US$39m to US$53m between 2012 and 2018.

Medicare pulled its coverage in late 2018 after deciding that the test kit is not really valuable. Industry insiders said it was highly unusual for Medicare to take so long in their evaluation. Once the insurance coverage is gone, it was the death knell for CardioDX Inc. In January 2019, the company abruptly shut down.

How much money Temasek poured in is unknown. It should appear somewhere in the 2019 financial statement under investment write-off.

Investing in a one product company and untested bio-science product, is super high risk. And Temasek is hungry for pharma startups.


INVESTMENT WATCH :  It's gone!  Watch the write-off in 2020 financials.


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Temasek Tracking - Cainaio Smart Logistics Networks

Formed : 2013

One of the largest unicorn in China and currently valued at US$20B..

It was formed by Alibaba in 2013 together with 2 investors. Jack Ma's idea was a platform that consolidates the country’s fragmented logistics sector, using big data technology to improve efficiency of parcel delivery. Cainiao used an asset-light model that eschewed expensive warehouse construction, operating in partnership with a dozen shipping companies that carry out deliveries with 2 million people across 600 cities.

Partly to overcome US regulator's questions on the consolidation of Cainiao's financials in Alibaba's books, the latter lifted its holdings from 47% to 51% in 2017. As a subsidiary, the financials will now be consolidated. But it now sinks Alibaba deeper into setting up and controlling its own infrastructure for the delivery network. It sees higher capitalisation needs and has committed another 100 billion Yuan to expand the network in the next 5 years.

Cainiao contribute 4% Alibaba's revenue, but it is still a heavy loss making delivery company.

Recently, one of the original 3 startup investors, Fosum International, has started negotiating with Alibaba to exit the company, putting the valuation at about US$20B.

Temasek and GIC bought into the startup in a 2016 fuding round. It is not known what the total investment is.

Put this on the WATCH LIST because :

Cainiao has been piling up losses. It's model has shifted from a tech-heavy platform into the regular heavy infrastructure delivery business. Alibaba is now the biggest shareholder in a company essentially providing the logistical support to it's parent, and Temasek's equity share is diminishing. No easy exit strategy.

July 2020

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Temasek Tracking - Asia Capital Reinsurance

Founded : 2006
Temasek investment: US$200M

Business : Re-isurance. ACR was set up as an independent reinsurer with a pan-Asia focus to address the demands of the fast growing Asian property and casualty insurance industry. It took on large risks segment such as aviation, marine, energy, large infrastructure and engineering projects across Asia.

ACR was founded in 2006 by John Tan, a local veteran in the industry. Founding investors included Khazanan Nasional and other private equity investors, including Hsieh Fu Hua and Koh Boon Hwee. At US$620M it was the largest fund raising in this part of the world at the time.

Both Hsieh and Koh were board members of Temasek Holdings at one time. It is not known at which time Temasek bought into ACR which may represent some conflicts of interest.  Appointments, relationships, family connections are all so intertwined in Singapore Inc, and given the non-transparency surrounding many transactions, everything is up for conjecture. Temasek sank in US$200M it seems not in a funding exercise but buying off some investors' shares.

ACR grew very fast in terms of contracts written and balance sheet growth. In the years 2010/2011 the insurance industry took big hits from natural catastrophes, eg the Thailand flood of 2011. In a very challenged environment of rising natural catastrophe risks in the Asian region, competition, excess insurance capital to demand that puts a downward pressure on pricing, ACR soon struggled with continued underwriting losses and the uncertain outcome of its turnaround strategy. It had a record of missing performance targets and during the past few years it has seen its combined ratio rising and its return on equity dwindling. In 2011 it was put on credit watch by rating agencies which was lifted shortly after capital injection. In 2016, its return was zero.

The eventual failure of ACR follows the familiar path of NOL and Chartered Semiconductors. In the game played by the big boys, in the end there was the lack of deep knowhow and connectedness to carry the business on a sustainable basis. Founder John is an industry vet and touted by many as a trail blazer. But at the same time, there were some whispers of disquiet on his staying power in the projects he undertook.

John Tan retired in 2015 from executive positions so the operation was basically struggling in the hands of financial investors. Major investors are Temasek, Malaysian SWF Khazanah and Marubeni. As early as 2016, investors seek an exit. In a 2017 aborted sales to a Chinese group, the valuation was set at US$1B.

By Dec 2019 a sales to Catalina Holdings was pending regulatory approval. For Catalina, it is a strategically important transaction as it gives them a platform from which to build an Asian portfolio and to complete their geographic footprint. Catalina intends to retain Singapore as a hub to build a strong Asian run-off platform.

The deal amount was not disclosed, but as at Sept 30, 2019, ACR had US$835 million of shareholder equity, US$1.3 billion of gross liabilities including unearned premium reserve, and total assets of US$2.1 billion.


Investment watch :
Selling in a buyers' market, where there were hardly any other takers, valuations is likely to be depressed. Expect substantial losses.

July 2020

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Temasek Tracking - Aiwujiwu

2014  Founded


Iwujiwu was a Chinese online property listings platform for rental and secondary market listing.

Within a span of 18 months, it raised US$300M in 5 funding exercises. In 2017 its valuation was put at US$1B and became known as the fatest growing unicorn in the industry.

It is not known how much Temasek sank into this company.

Iwujiwu is an O2O app (Online-to-offline) that funnels customers to real estate agents. Opened in 2014 it quickly gained 28 percent market share of Shanghai's rental market. The following year, it leased out more than 20,000 homes and rung up US$5.9 billion trade volume. By 2016/2017 competitive business models profilerated, real estate agent-customer monkey dealings, and broader market cooled and macroeconomic uncertainties increased. Investors' cash burnt and the company cut commissions making the situation worst. Within 4 years it had gone from unicorn to bankruptcy.

Weak model : When people make their biggest financial investment in their life time, the process requires significant services, trust, and face-to-face interactions. In addition, as people don’t buy homes very often – unlike the so called high-frequency food takeout or stock trading services, for example – the classic Internet business strategy of user acquisition and value generation did not work well neither.

It seems AIWUJIWU was simply an app. Shanghai Manyi Property Consultancy is the entity that operates the app. Official record shows Deng Wei its founder has backed out as an investor and the company has changed its legal representative from Mei Hong to Zhai Guanmin. Its website has been taken over by a rental agent app called First Floor Landlor. Den Wei is gone and the company nameplate no longer hangs at its former address.

This is a classic case of greed dampening investor prudency. It's the mentality of  "Anything-technology-and-China-I-also-want".


INVESTMENT ALERT:  There has been no official announcement, but it's already game over. We don't know if Temasek has written this off yet.

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Temasek Tracking - Tongdun Technology

2012 Founded
2013 Fundings rounds US$200m
2017 Funding round (Temasek joined)
2019 Police investigation


It's a big data company engaged in data gathering, mining and analysis. It crawls the internet to collect personal information, such as names, locations and phone numbers. Data analytics companies have grown in step with the online loan industry which requires customer data. Lenders purchase data to help them market their loans, identify fraudulent borrowers and assist collection of unpaid debts.

Dec 2019 CCTV cited police reports that Tongdun made US$128.5m from sales of personal data to predatory online loan sharks. If that is not shocking enough, the US$126.5m was the company's reported total revenue for 2018.

Chinese police are cracking down on data companies that sell personal information to predatory lenders. Warrants of arrest has been issued to CEOs of two other companies.

Temasek's total investment is not known. Temasek co-led the 2017 funding round which raised US$72.8m.


INVESTMENT WATCH :  Red alert.


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Temasek Tracking - Making Sense Of Risks

" It must sometimes seem to Singaporeans that the management of Temasek and GIC have an unerring ability to find every banana skin in the room and promptly slip up on it." ... Kenneth Jeyeratnam blog (2012) 

With wisdom from hindsight it is easy to critique an investment decision and where the deal has gone terribly wrong, to bollock the decision maker. Then again, how is one supposed to take stock of the never ending tales of disasters by Temasek. Or are the failures simply accentuated because successes are seldom publicised as a matter of propriety. 

This is a series of blogs that highlight Temasek's assets which have floundered or appear to be floundering. The blog Temasek Tracking - Portfolio compilation is an attempt at recording an inventory of investments. Troubled assets are highlighted with a link to a microblog on each relevant investment.

Temasek started off investing under the mantle of national development. Where the mission is national development, elements of subsidy pervades and funding agency bottomline is never impressive as it is not meant to be. An example is the ill-fated Chartered Semiconductor Mfg in 1990s where Temasek lost billions doing national service investment.

It has moved away from 'big bang deals' of the past, where it has gone in to take substantial positions and controlling stakes in companies. As a supranational entity, there will always be suspicion of non-market motives for their acquisitions. The risk of igniting political-economic ripples in the target host country is high.  Such was the case in the 2006 accquisition of Thai Prime Minister's Shin Corp. Coming at a time of corruption allegation against the PM, Thais believed Thaksin Shinawatra took massive profits from an over-priced sale, but defaulted on taxes. It caused a serious diplomatic rift and burning of Singapore flags in Bangkok and sealed the downfall of the PM.

Traditional investors follow the 60:40 principle of investment. This suggests a 60% portfolio on equities and 40% fixed income government securities. The idea is the lower but fixed return on securities will balance out the higher but more volatile returns on equities. A Schroeder's study has found that the 60:40 method has proven very successful. But the low interest rates of the past decade has meant the 40% fixed revenue is no longer sufficient to balance out the volatility of equities earnings. Temasek is no traditionalist. It has a much higher risk appetite than GIC.

Ho Ching, wife of the Prime Minister, was appointed CEO in 2004. She came with a checquered engineering background. The new CEO immediately set about modernising and re-energising Temasek into what is today a well-respected sovereign wealth fund managing a portfolio of S$306B with 800 employees and 11 global offices. There is no doubt the infrastructure of Temasek today is her legacy. But as to how much value she actually created requires much financial analysis which is not the matter for this blog.

Fair or not, many of the older generation remembers her for the very first 'big bang' deal in the acquisition of Micropolis which resulted in a loss of S$500M. She has come a long way since. Temasek has diversified geographically so it is no longer impacted solely by Singapore economy. The US is an important target but entry timed in an era of high valuation seems foreboding. In the case of China, Temasek picked up assets in their post boom era. As China's economy cools, startups flounder. Some industry experts warn 90% of many Chinese tech startups will fail. Holding the view that India is on the cusp of their economic breakout, Temasek wants to get in pre-boom. With a highly bureaucratic India, it fuels suspicion that Singapore eased up on labour mobility policies in the CECA (FTA) signed in 2005 to facilitate Temasek's entry into the sub-continent. Latin America and Africa are two regions that are also in Temasek's lenses, two regions where it has very little experience.

Temasek does not manage risk the traditional way of setting limits or targets for asset class, country, sector, theme or single name concentration. One can assume neither does it have limits for other risk parameters like liquidity, currency and interest rate sensitivities. These are time-tested risk management regimes that all central banks impose on financial institutions in their jurisdiction, as do the MAS.

Instead, it approaches risk management on some VAR or Value At Risk methodology that employs fanciful algorithms. VAR in simple terms is the amount of cash a fund may lose in a given time frame in the event of a major downturn. 

Its investment philosophy is a long term horizon and with this it is prepared to take short term negative returns in some years in expectation of higher returns in the longer term. It retains a risk appetite to take concentrated positions, in other words, 'big bang' deals are still possible.

Temasek has shredded its image of a gangling sovereign investment arm. It has left behind the comprador, brick and mortar management style and brought in Wall Street type wheelers and dealers. In a world of frothy investment dollars due to decades of easy money policies by central banks globally, the liquidity increases capital competition on the supply side. Temasek puts its funds into more high risk deals in search of higher returns. It has become more of a Venture Capitalist, seeking out the the next Alibaba, Paypal, or Amazon.

Temasek's investment is predominantly in equities, both listed and unlisted private companies. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, it suffered a bruising loss of US$5B in a somewhat panic divestment of holdings in Barclays, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. In classic contrast of impeccable timing, Warren Buffet picked up the BOA shares and made US$2B in one year. Temasek has since moved away form putting capital into established financial institutions and turned towards projects centered on technology, logistics, media and life sciences sectors. It is also into fund of funds and running its own private equity firms. It has since spawned several private equity companies that operate on leveraged basis. Outstanding bonds aggregate S$15B at March 2020. Temasek no doubt, sees itself in the company of great money management houses like Blackrock, Vanguard Group, UBS, Fidelity, etc. In simple layman terms, the focus has veered away from seeking rock steady stocks that provide a respectable income stream and reasonable capital appreciation, and instead has gone into forward looking mode in trying to outsmart the market by identifying tomorrow's winners. It is in the nature of taking bets, although a calculated one, but nevertheless, they are bets.

The sovereign wealth fund is now a true blue VC fund, pumping seemingly unlimited money into startups that use cash-burning models.  It now regularly leads funding rounds as the startups go into their A, B, C and D series of fund raising for their seemingly unsatiable need for cash to burn. Even as the cash burns and the companies' losses have no end in sight, their valuation is put in an elevator heading for the topfloor. The unicorns, those with US$1B valuation, take centre stage, often with a flamboyant founder who gives presentations in their bermudas, soon in flip flops, and likely travels in private jets purchased with investor money. These companies never turn in a single dollar profit for years, but VCers will point to Amazon which made its first profit after a decade of losses and is now a US1 trillion company. For as long as the startups are on the books, it's all about valuation. And valuation in this case, has nothing to do with International Financial Reporting Standards. It is based on investor expectations. How these expectations are translated into the bottomline is rather foggy. 

Today, as Temasek manages a S$306B portfolio, should conservative Singaporeans look at the SWF with awe, esteem, or with a tinge of concern. Afterall, invesTment 101 cautions pensioners to place their bets on lesser risks and be satisfied with a lower but steady return. Should the nation's interest be better served for reserves to be managed more conservatively? The failures at Neptune Orient Lines and Chartered Semiconductors have demonstrated that when playing with big boys, one needs depth of knowledge in the game. Can Singapore's aristocrats thow up several more Ho Chings in the years ahead? Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, currently the CEO of Temasek International, is possibly being groomed to take over from Ho Ching. For all his credentials and expertise, Dilham does not have a drop of blue blood in him. As an outsider of the Singapore aristocrat family. does he have the standing to ride out political storms from billion dollar losses the way Ho Ching is able to? Unlikely.

Read: Temasek plans to make its presence felt 

Perhaps the greatest risk is the company itself and its management culture. Deals are many, varied, humongous and cover a wide spectrum of investment types. Afterall, the CEO once quipped, it's a game where players must have 'balls'. At any one time, there is probably a hundred deals at various stages of processing.  Temasek seems to be in a hurry and running on steroids. 

The Ministry of Finance is the sole shareholder of Temasek, but it cuts the fund loose to operate as a private exempt company. The independence of the company is a sensitive issue and MOF has persistently insisted the cabinet does not interfere with the operation of Temasek. The independence and sovereignty factor impedes Temasek's cross border dealings where national interest may be raised by target's domicile country. Ministerial supervision is surrendered in deference to market sensitivity.

A high level insider once explained there is no risk committee at board level. He said with reference to Temasek : “Every commercial organization of any reasonable scale, and in particular financial institutions, simply must have a dedicated risk management committee of the board that is fully independent of management. To not do so is simply playing Russian Roulette and is inexcusable in today’s volatile era and in light of the recent financial crisis ”.


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Temasek Tracking - Portfolio Compilation

" It must sometimes seem to Singaporeans that the management of Temasek and GIC have an unerring ability to find every banana skin in the room and promptly slip up on it." ... Kenneth Jeyeratnam blog (2012) 

Jeyeratnam made reference to failed investments by Temasek and GIC. To do justice to the sovereign wealth funds, this blog attempts to list Temasek's portfolio and identify troubled assets. Do note the following:-

1. This is an ongoing effort. It is a work-in-progress.
2. It is not a comprehensive list. 
3. The investments may be booked in Temasek, or any of its subsidiary investment vehicles, or in its operating subsidiaries.
4. Past investments since divested are included.
5. Troubled assets are highlighted in red. Click for microblog on the relevant investment.

The asset review avoids criticism of the investment decision since the circumstances of the time is unknown and every acquisition is subject to risks as yet unknown. It merely lays out the reason for marking the asset as a troubled item. However, where there are very obvious clearcut lapses of focus in the decision making, it will be highlighted. This seems a fair approach to take in a post-fact review. 

Note:
(a). Want to be informed when a new microblog of troubled asset is published? Simply submit your email in the box on the top, right. Your privacy will be respected. The author has no other use for your email.
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Updated as at :    24 Nov 2020
Date started    :    24 Jul 2020


Country : CHINA

(Status: Series denotes the last round of funding)

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
17Zuoye	Edu: Online platform for K-12	2005	?	>	Series E
iTutor	Edu : Online on-demand tutoring	1998	?	Huge	late vc
Columbia-China	Life Sciences: Healthcare Fund	2013	2016	US$ 250M
Accuragen	Life Sciences:  Cancer Diagnostics	2013	?	?	Series B
Aier Eye Hospital Group	Life Sciences: Eye hospital	2001	2019	US$ 2.0B	Public
China Biological Products	Life Sciences: Biopharmaceitical company	1989			Public
	Life Sciences:
Meiluan Dianping	Lifestyles: On-demand food delivery	2010	2016	Huge	Public
Mafengco	Lifestyles: Online travel guide	2006	2017	?	Series D
Tuniu Corp	Lifestyles: Online leisure travel	2006	2013	US$129m	Public	2018-20
Aiwujiwu	Lifestyles: O2O property rental	2014	?	?	Bombed
Tudou Holdings	Lifestyles: Online video sharing	2004	2010	US$35M	M&A	2016
Kuaishou	Lifestyles: Online video sharing	2911			Series E
Didi Chuxing	Lifestyles: Taxi-hailing	2012	?	Huge	late vc
Vancl	Lifestyles: E-commerce	2007	2011	?	Series G
Cloudary	Lifestyles: E-book platform	2004		?	M&A
G7 Networks	Logistics: Iot fleet mgmt	2008	2016	?	late vc
Shanghai Yupei Group	Logistics: Owns several warehouses	2000		?	LBO
Cainaio Smart Logistics	Logistics: (Alibaba-owned)	2013	?	huge	?
MiningLamp	AI: Big data mining analytics	2014			Series E
Rokid	AI: manufactures family robots	2013
Sensetime	AI: visual & facial recognitionl technlogy	2014			Series D
Tongdun Technology	Fintech: Big data analytics	2012	2013	US$ 200M	Police inv
Rong 370	Fintech: online platform loan search	2011	2014	?	Public
21Vianet	Tech: Internet data center services provider	1996		?	Public
Cheetah Mobile	Tech: Software app developer	2009		?	Public
Kunlun Energy (HK)	Energy: Integrated oil & gas services	1994	2012	HK$4.2T	Public
AS Watson	Others: Convenience store chain	1841	2014	US$5.7B	Pte
Nio Inc	Others: Electric autonous vehicles	2014	2018	US$258M	Public	Partly
Xiaom	Others: Smart phones & IoT products
Wework China	Others: Co-sharing workspace	2017	2018	?	Series B

Country : INDIA

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
Cartrade	Lifestyles: Used car auction platform	2006	2007	US$140m	Series H
Curefit	Lifestyles: Health & fitness	2016	2020	US$100M	Series D2
PolicyBazaar	Lifestyles: Digital insurance	2008	2018	US$13.85M	late vc
Snapdeal	Lifestyles: Online marketplace	2010	2014	US$53m	late vc
Ola	Lifestyles: Ride-hailing	2010	2018	US$225M	Series J
Zomato	Lifestyles: On demand food delivery	2009
Manthan Software	AI: Data analytics	2004	2018	?	Series D
Billdesk	Fintech: Payments platform	2000	2005	?	M&A
Pine Labs	Fintech: Payments processor	1998	2018	?	Pte
Dr Argawal's Healthcare	Life Sc: Hospital chain	1957	2019	US$38M	Pte
Healthcare Global	Life Sc: Multi-specialty hospitals	1989	2013	US$25.7M	Public
Asia Healthcare Hldg	Life Sc: Invest healthcare biz	2016	2018	US$50M	Pte
Medreich	Life Sc: Pharmaceutical co	1994			M&A
Star Agriwarehousing Mgmt	Agri: Integrated post-harvest mgmt svc	2006	2014	US$120M	Pte
Godrej Agrovet	Agri: Agribusiness and animal feed	1991	2012	US$140M	Public	Part
ICICI Prudential	Others: General insurance	2000	2020	US$111.5M	Public
Nat'l Investment Infra Fund	Others: Indian infra project fund	2015	2018	US$400M	Pte
FirstFlight Courier	Others: Courier services	1986	2007	?	Pte	to exit
Godfrej Consumer	Others: H/hold, personal care prod	1897	2012	?	Public	Part
Nat'l Stock Exchange India	Others: Others	1992	2010	US$150	Pte
Idea Cellular	Others: Telecommunications	1995	-	-	Public	NA
AU Small FinanceBank	Others: Banking	1998	2018	US$147m	Public

Country : US

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
AirBnB	Lifestyles: Online vacation rental	2008
Harry's	Lifestyles: E-commerce men personal grooming	2012			M&A
DoorDash	Lifestyles: Food delivery platform	2013			Series H
Rent The Runway	Lifestyles: Fashion rentall	2009	2018	US$200M	Loan
Wish	Lifestyles: Mobile E-commerce app	2011	2017	?	Series H
Hello Inc	Lifestyles: Sleep tracking device	2012	2015	?	Closed
ClassPass	Lifestyles: Fitness & Health	2012	2018	?	Series E
Roblox	Lifestyles: Online games created by users	2004		?	Series F
Alexion Inc	Life Sc: Pharmaceutical	1992	2015	US$196M	Public	2018
Amyris	Life Sc: Synthetic biology prod	2003		US$47.8M	Public
Biomarin	Life Sc: Pharmaceutical	1997			Public
Homology Medicines	Life Sc: Gene therapy	2015	2018	?	Public
Biovex	Life Sc: Biopharmaceutical	1999		?	M&A
Iora Health	Life Sc: Primary healthcare svc	2011	2016	?	Series F
Coherus Biosciences	Life Sc: Biotheraupetics cmpany	2010		?	Public
CardioDX	Life Sc: Gnenomic diagnistics	2004	2012		Closed
Portula Pharmaceuticals	Life Sc: Clinical biotechnology co	2003	2011	?	M&A	2020
Visterra	Life Sc - Biopharmaceutical co	2007	2014	?	M&A	2018
Impossible Food	Life Sc: Plant-based meat substitute	2011	2017	?	late vc
Califia Farms	Life Sc: Plant-base bevearages	2010		?	late vc
Zipline	Life Sc: Drone delivery for medicines	2011			Series D
Guardant Health	Life Sc: Precision oncology	2012			Public
Vir Biotechnology	Life Sc: clinical stage immunology co	2016	2020			Public
Vielo Bio	Life Sc: clinical stage biotechnology co	2017	2020		Public
IQVIA Company	Life Sc: aggregated health dada provider	1982			Public
Clean Energy Fuels Corp	Energy: NG marketer and retailer	1997			Public
FTS International	Energy: Fracking services company	2002	2011	US$1.33B	Public
Venari Resources	Energy: Oil exploration & production	2011	2012	Huge	Closed	2019
Cheniere Energy	Energy: LNG terminal and marketing	1983	2012	US$218m	Public	2013
..	Energy:
Mosaic Co	Agri: Fertiliser mgf	2004		Public
Magic Leap	AI: Augment reality technology	2011	2018	Huge	Bad
Flux Factory Inc	Tech: Data exc for bldg designs	2012	2015	?	Series B
Global Healthcare Exchange	Tech: Supply chain mgmt - health sector	2000		?	Pte
Farmers Business Network	Tech: Argronomic info network	2014		?	Series E
Gazillion Entertainment	Tech: Video games developer	> 2004	2010	?	Closed	>
Pluribus Networks	Tech: Network automation provider	2010	2015	?	Series E
AvidXchange	Tech: Accounts payable processing	2009	2017	?	Series F
Dell Inc	Tech: Computer hardware and software	1984		?	Public
Centurylink Inc	Tech: Multinational telecommunication co	1930	2016	US$2.137B	Public
Bill.com	Tech: Accounts back-office system	2006	2020	?	Public
Sprinklr	Tech: Social media mgmt for companies	2009	2016	> ?	late vc
Marin Software	Tech: Cloud based advertising mgmt	2006	2012	?	Public
Carbon	Tech: 3D technologies	2013	2019	?	Series E
UST Global	Tech: Digital transformation enabler	1998	2018	US$250M	Pte
C2FO	Fintech: Supply chain financing	2008	2015	US$40M	Series G
Flywire	Fintech: Payments processor		2018	?	Series E
Virtu Financial	Fintech - automated trading platform	2008	2014	?	Public
Visa	Fintech - Payments processor	1958		?	Public
Secondmarket	Fintech: Auction platform for illiquid assets	2004	2010	US$7.5M	M&A	2015
Paypal	Fintech: Electronic payment system	1998			Public
Markit Group	Finance: Credit data provider	2003	2013	US$500M	LBO
Finanxe:
Modern Meadow	Others: Biofabricated leather	2011	2018	?	late vc
Unvar Solutions Inc	Others: Chemical & ingredients distributor	1924	2015	US$350M	Public
Evoqua Water Technology	Others: Water treatment solutions	1978			Public
	Others:

Country : SINGAPORE

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
Advance.ai	AI: Fraud detection, credit scoring platform	2015	?	?	Series C
ACR Capital Re	Others: Re-insurance	2006	?	US$200M	Sold	2020
Health Management Intl	Life Sc: Hospitals in SEA	1998	2017	S$11M	Pte
ASLAN Pharmaceuticals	Life Sc: Biopharmaceutical in cancer drugs	2010	2020		Public
Lazada	Lifestyles: E-commerce	2012	2014	?	Pte
Spacemob	Lifestyles: Co-working space provider	2016	2017	US$5.5M	M&A	2018
Zilingo	Lifestyles: B2B platform for fashion producers	2015	2019		Series D
Lazada	Lifestyles: E-commerce	2012			M&A
Orchard Energy	Energy: Oil Exploration & production	2008	2009	S$13m	Pte	2009

Country : ASIA - OTHERS

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
VN - VNG Corm	Tech: Internet & tech co games devt	2004	2009	US$29M	late vc
VN - Vinhomrs	Property: Real est developer	2008	2019	?	Public
VN -
ID - HappyFresh	Lifestyles: Online grocery delivery	2014	2015	?	Series C
ID - Gojek	Lifestyles: Ride-hailing	2010	2018	Huge	Series F
ID - Tokopedia	Lifestyles: E-commerce	2009	2020	USD500m	late VC
TW - Gogoro	Others: Electric bike mfg	2011	2017	?	Series C
TW:
TH - Itouch (Shin Corp)	Others: Telecommunication, airlines	1983	2006	Thb151B	Public	2011-19

Country : EUROPE

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
UK - Funding Circle	Fintech: Online peer-to-peer lending	2010	2015	£30M	Public
UK - FNZ (Finextra)	Fintech: IT service provider	2004	2020	?	Pte
UK -
UK - BenevolentAI	AI: Computational medicine technology	2013	2017	?	Pte
UK - IHS Markit	Finance: Financial information svc provider	1959			M&A
UK - Improbable Worlds	Tech: OS platform for simulation	2012	2017	?	Series B
UK - Farfetch	Lifestyles: platform luxury goods buy/sell	2007		?	Public
UK - Eros International	Lifestyles: Indian film production / distribution	1988		?	Public
UK - Orchard Theurapeutics	Life Sc: Biopharmaceutical company	2015		?	Public
FR - Gaztransport & Technigas	Energy: Services to LNG storage/transport	1994	2014	10.4%	Public
FR - Alan	Lifestyles: Digital Insurance	2016	2020	?	Series C
DE - Omio	Lifestyles: Travel aggregator	2012	2018	?	Series D
DE - GetYourGuide	Lifestyles: Online tour-search platform	2009		?	Series E
NO - Origo Exploration	Energy: Oil exploration in Norwegian sea	2014	2014	€95M	M&A	2017
IT - Moncler SpA	Lifestyles: branded luxury outerwear	1952			Public
NL - Adyen	Fintech: Payment processor	2006			Public
NL - NN Group	Finance: Insurance company	2013	2014	€525M	Public
CH - Gategroup Holdings	Others: Airline catering	1992	2019	???	Pte

Country : LATIN AMERICA

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
AR - IguanaFix	Lifestyles: E-commerce home improvement	2013	2016	Low	late  vc
BR - Netshoes (Cayman)	Lifestyles: E-commerce sports goods	2000	2012	R$113M	M&A	2019
BR - Virgi Mobile Latin Am	Telcom: Mobile services provider	2010	2014	?	early vc

Country : AFRICA

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
NG - Seven Energy Intl	Energy: Oil & gas exploration services	2004	2014	US$120m	Pte	2019
ZA - Airtel Africa	Telcom: Mobile service provider	1998		>	Public
ZA - Sedibelo (Platmin)	Others : Mining	2004	2010	US$135m	Pte

Country : OTHER COUNTRIES

Asset	Business	Found	Invest	Amount	Status	Divest
CA - Turquoise Hill Resources	Others: Global mining company	1993	2012	US$1.3b	Public	2019
TR - D.ream (Salt Bae)	Others - Restaurants	1990	2018	???	Pte
BR : Burger King Brazil	Others - Restaurants	2010	2014	US$100m	Public	2017
BR - Oderecht Oil & Gas (Ocyan)	Energy: Oil & gas exploration services	2006	2010	US$400m	Pte

Read the cover blog TEMASEK TRACKING - MAKING SENSE OF RISKS