When coffee smells of money

LAST Friday was shaping up to be a quiet end to a hectic week. Then, at 9.40 pm, liquidators of the failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital told us that frontman Zhu Su had been arrested at Changi Airport.

Zhu is a controversial figure. Previously said to be a visionary and one of crypto’s biggest billionaires, he and Three Arrows co-founder Kyle Davies made heavily leveraged bets that later went sour and dragged the industry down together with the firm.

But Zhu has maintained that he did nothing wrong. After Three Arrows collapsed, he took the summer off and travelled around. In Bali, he learnt how to surf.

Zhu’s arrest last week marked the end of the courts’ patience with him. Liquidators had applied for a “committal order” after he repeatedly failed to cooperate with their investigations. Zhu now faces four months in prison.

So does Davies, although his whereabouts are currently unknown.

While Zhu is serving time, his Good Class Bungalow (GCB) is being well-utilised as an urban farming test plot by his wife’s new company. We found out that the backyard of the 31,862 square-foot property has been turned into a space for crops, chickens and fish, with development kicking off over a year ago.

That’s not all that happened last week. In a stunning blow, Indonesia is stopping social media companies from facilitating e-commerce payments on their platforms.

The new move is clearly directed at TikTok, whose up-and-coming platform TikTok Shop has a virality that could upend the e-commerce world.

Indonesia is TikTok Shop’s biggest market and a key node for international dominance. An upset in the country could kill about a third of the platform’s revenue, The Information reported. TikTok reportedly plans to engage with Indonesian lawmakers on the matter.

In other news, our readers in Singapore will soon witness new coffee brands springing up all over the island. After establishing a foothold in China and Indonesia, tech-enabled coffee chains are making their foray into the coffee-loving nation of Singapore.

These companies combine digital services with offline activities to streamline operations and create a seamless consumer experience.

Luckin Coffee, after bouncing back from a high-profile fraud case, already has 12 stores in Singapore. Kopi Kenangan opened its first two outlets last week, with plans to open a total of 30 by end-2024.

Fore Coffee is opening an outlet in Singapore next month and wants to have as many as 200 stores internationally by year-end.

Singapore is a prized battleground. It has a high per capita rate of coffee consumption and its residents’ purchasing power make for a potentially lucrative market. But if Luckin’s journey is anything to go by, the road will not be easy.

These expansion plans – heavily fuelled by venture capital – could turn into carnage if the brands wage a price war with each other, with inadequate control over product quality and business costs.

That’s all from us this week. Stay caffeinated, and have a good week ahead!

5 things to know

• Long drought SINGAPORE biotech startups are struggling through a sharp drop in funding, with investors now paying much closer attention to proof of viability. Read more
• Innovating up SINGAPORE has moved up two spots to fifth place in the Global Innovation Index, leading the South-east Asia, East Asia and Oceania region. Read more
• Free fall FUNDING continues to be challenging for startups in South-east Asia, as ecosystem funding fell to a five-year low in the third quarter of 2023 to US$835 million. Read more
• Nice to meat you DUTCH foodtech company Meatable will launch its first cultivated pork products in Singapore by Q2 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. Read more
• Financing boost FUNDING Societies has raised US$27 million in debt funding led by Asia-focused private credit financier AlteriQ Global. Read more