Smartkarma Originals

• Founded in 2014, Hangzho Rokid Technology (2004144D CH)  is a Chinese developer of AR glasses and AI robotics software products, and the company operates across 10 countries.
• Rokid’s glasses are mainly used for industrial purposes including in oil & gas, electric power, aviation, rail transport and others thereby creating its own niche in the AR/VR glasses sector.
• The company has just expanded into North America with further global expansion on the cards and may likely to seek an overseas listing.

LightStream Research • Equity Analyst • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Naver Z Corporation, a subsidiary of NAVER Corporation, focuses on developing VR and AR technologies. The company can be regarded as one of the promising players in the Metaverse market.
• The company’s flagship product, ZEPETO, has become particularly popular among younger users and has been downloaded over 300 million times worldwide.
• Naver Z (1838597D KS) ‘s VR and AR technologies have a variety of use cases, and the company has worked with businesses and brands in a variety of industries.

LightStream Research • Equity Analyst • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• This is the Fourth and Final of the HRTech Sector series and we will be discussing Ceridian, ADP, Recruit and Visional performance over the last quarter.
• The remarkable growth spurt experienced post-Covid seems to be slowing down and margins and revenues have mostly returned to pre-COVID levels.
• With digitisation of workplace, the market is expected to see further advancement in categories such as employee experience, talent intelligence, contract workforce management, etc.

LightStream Research • Equity Analyst • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• China online marketplaces are entering maturity phase of slow but steady growth. While markets have lingering concern about competition intensifying, we see the landscape stabilizing rather than deteriorating.
• Early yet clear signals are flashing that incumbents like Alibaba are regaining footing whereas challengers such as PDD and Douyin are losing momentum.
• Alibaba is our top pick for its improving fundamentals and discounted valuation. We are positive on Meituan for the near term but underweight PDD and see JD fairly priced.

• Greater China Equity Long/Short Analyst • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Established in 2020, Rebellions is a leading AI based fabless startup in Korea. In February 2023, Rebellions launched a new artificial intelligence chip, challenging the global leader NVIDIA. 
• According to the company, its ATOM chip targets specific tasks, allowing the chip to consume only about 20% of the power of an Nvidia A100 chip on those tasks. 
• Since the company’s inception, Rebellions raised 122 billion won in funding including 30 billion won from KT. The company was last valued at 350 billion won in June 2022.

• Korea/Asia, New Economy, IPOs, Events • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Megvii is a leading artificial intelligence company in China focusing on IoT scenarios for mainly three fields including Consumer IoT, City IoT and Supply Chain IoT. 
• In June 2022, Megvii’s chief scientist Sun Jian passed away due to a sudden illness. His death was one of the key reasons why the company has postponed the IPO.
• Major investors in Megvii include Ant Group, Alibaba Group (9988 HK), Lenovo (992 HK), and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

• Korea/Asia, New Economy, IPOs, Events • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• AISpeech is a high-tech start up specializing in computer speech recognition and AI chip design in China.
• The company is developing intelligent voice interaction technology designed to improve human-machine interaction. It is also developing human-computer dialogue operating system and artificial intelligence chip modules to improve speech recognition.
• AISpeech is in the process of listing in the Shanghai Star Market, aiming to raise about US$1.5 billion.

• Korea/Asia, New Economy, IPOs, Events • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Founded in 2012, Beijing Yunzhisheng Information Technology Co. (also known as Unisound) is a Chinese company focused on AI powered voice and speech processing technologies.
• Unisound provides voice recognition, language processing and big data solutions to home appliances, automobile, healthcare and education companies.
• Since the inception of the company, it has raised US$361 million in funding. 

• Korea/Asia, New Economy, IPOs, Events • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Having reached a 30 year high of 4% in December 2022, which is two times the BOJ’s target, Japanese companies are finding it hard to absorb cost inflation.
• This macro environment presents an opportunity to appreciate the few Japanese Food and Beverages companies that have managed to maintain average pricing growth even in a deflationary environment.
• With a lasting pricing-power and a relatively inelastic demand than competitors, we think Yakult Honsha (2267 JP) and Nissin Foods Holdings (2897 JP) are in a great position to outperform competition. 

LightStream Research • Equity Analyst • (Opens in a new window) ⧉

• Riiid uses AI machine learning technology including “reinforcement learning algorithm” to improve student education.
• Riiid has a strong presence in the TOEIC test prep services in Asia. Now, it is expanding its business in the SAT and ACT prep markets in the United States.
• Since the company’s inception, the company has received about $250 million in funding including from Softbank Vision Fund.

• Korea/Asia, New Economy, IPOs, Events • (Opens in a new window) ⧉