🌏 Asian Private Markets Research and Insights 💡, pvtIQ

Ben Lim

🌏 Asian Private Markets Research and Insights 💡

Private Markets Research and Data, Reimagined

pvtIQ

pvtIQ leverages Smartkarma’s technology and distribution to deliver high-quality research and data on Asian private markets.

Private Capital Markets

Supermom provides data and consumer insights for over 200 consumer brands, including mother & child, education, FMCG, fashion, and beauty

<ul>
<li>
Regional Data Platform Transition: Supermom evolved from an events business into an AI-driven data platform across Southeast Asia, offering brands targeted marketing and research through over 10 million profiled parents.</li>
<li>
Proprietary First-Party Data Moat: Supermom's authenticated parent data helps brands as third-party tracking weakens. The US$14.0m Series B from institutional investors supports this thesis and funds deeper predictive analytics capabilities.</li>
<li>
Deteriorating Profitability and Cash Burn: Pre-tax losses widened to US$3.4m in FY24 as costs outpaced revenue growth. Continued cash burn risks eroding Series B funding before expansion delivers operating leverage.</li>
</ul>



Regional Data Platform Transition: Supermom evolved from an events business into an AI-driven data platform across Southeast Asia, offering brands targeted marketing and research through over 10 million profiled parents.

Proprietary First-Party Data Moat: Supermom's authenticated parent data helps brands as third-party tracking weakens. The US$14.0m Series B from institutional investors supports this thesis and funds deeper predictive analytics capabilities.

Deteriorating Profitability and Cash Burn: Pre-tax losses widened to US$3.4m in FY24 as costs outpaced revenue growth. Continued cash burn risks eroding Series B funding before expansion delivers operating leverage.


Supermom: Evolving from a Parenting Community into a Data-Driven Marketing Platform (Initiation)

Eezee is the largest B2B e-commerce and digital procurement marketplace for industrial hardware, maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies in Southeast Asia

<ul>
<li>Enterprise Procurement Ecosystem: Eezee runs a B2B marketplace of over 130,000 industrial supplies for Southeast Asian buyers, differentiated by proprietary middleware and AI tools automating purchasing within clients' ERP systems.</li>
<li>Demonstrated Operating Leverage: Revenue rebounded after FY23 to US$13.3m in FY25, led by Indonesia. The asset-light marketplace model delivers scale economies, with revenue outpacing administrative costs and gross margins improving.</li>
<li>Persistent Audit and Compliance Risk: Reliance Assurance LLP issued consecutive qualified opinions, latest on FY25, citing unrecorded expenses and unassessed impairments, and flagged unverified payment licensing in Indonesia and Malaysia.</li>
</ul>


Enterprise Procurement Ecosystem: Eezee runs a B2B marketplace of over 130,000 industrial supplies for Southeast Asian buyers, differentiated by proprietary middleware and AI tools automating purchasing within clients' ERP systems.
Demonstrated Operating Leverage: Revenue rebounded after FY23 to US$13.3m in FY25, led by Indonesia. The asset-light marketplace model delivers scale economies, with revenue outpacing administrative costs and gross margins improving.
Persistent Audit and Compliance Risk: Reliance Assurance LLP issued consecutive qualified opinions, latest on FY25, citing unrecorded expenses and unassessed impairments, and flagged unverified payment licensing in Indonesia and Malaysia.


Eezee: Evolving from B2B Marketplace to AI Procurement Platform (Initiation)

Groundup.ai is a Singapore-based deep-tech startup that specializes in Cognitive Maintenance and industrial reliability

<ul><li>Proprietary Industrial AI Positioning: Groundup.ai pairs non-invasive sensors with agentic AI to diagnose equipment faults, operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and the Gulf, and entered Vietnam and Japan post-Series A.</li><li>Demonstrated Operating Leverage: Groundup.ai turned profitable in FY25 (year to March 2025), with a US$0.1m (S$115.2k) net profit on US$1.7m (S$2.3m) revenue, then secured an over-US$10.0m multi-site contract.</li><li>Enterprise Customer Concentration Risk: Groundup.ai depends heavily on one US$10.0m+ contract whose hardware-heavy rollout could strain working capital, following negative operating cash flow of US$0.6m in FY25.</li></ul>

Proprietary Industrial AI Positioning: Groundup.ai pairs non-invasive sensors with agentic AI to diagnose equipment faults, operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and the Gulf, and entered Vietnam and Japan post-Series A.Demonstrated Operating Leverage: Groundup.ai turned profitable in FY25 (year to March 2025), with a US$0.1m (S$115.2k) net profit on US$1.7m (S$2.3m) revenue, then secured an over-US$10.0m multi-site contract.Enterprise Customer Concentration Risk: Groundup.ai depends heavily on one US$10.0m+ contract whose hardware-heavy rollout could strain working capital, following negative operating cash flow of US$0.6m in FY25.

Groundup.ai: Expanding from Pilot Projects to Enterprise Contracts (Initiation)


MoneySmart is a leading personal finance comparison portal and financial advisory platform in Southeast Asia. It helps you compare, apply for, and manage banking, insurance, and investment products

<ul>
<li>
Dual-Engine Regional Marketplace: MoneySmart operates a mature personal finance comparison platform and licensed insurance brokerage across Singapore and Hong Kong, serving over 2.1 million monthly users. The company leverages an extensive library of educational content to drive organic inbound traffic, facilitating over 750,000 historical transactions across credit, loan, and insurance verticals.</li>
<li>
Asset-Light Brokerage Model: The business combines affiliate lead generation with own-brand, digital-first insurance products under its Bubblegum brand, underwritten by third-party insurers, allowing it to capture a larger share of the transaction value chain. This structural advantage supported a revenue recovery to US$38.3m in FY25, underpinned by deep integration with over 120 partner financial institutions.</li>
<li>
Structural Profitability Volatility: The company faces intense rivalry from well-funded regional aggregators and direct-to-consumer digital banks, requiring continuous marketing expenditure that compresses operating margins. This dynamic contributed to a net loss of US$3.7m in FY24, when revenue fell 13 per cent and a largely non-cash US$3.7m share-based payment charge was recognised, before profitability returned in FY25 on unaudited summary data. The company also relies heavily on a concentrated group of commercial banking partners for commission income.</li>
</ul>



Dual-Engine Regional Marketplace: MoneySmart operates a mature personal finance comparison platform and licensed insurance brokerage across Singapore and Hong Kong, serving over 2.1 million monthly users. The company leverages an extensive library of educational content to drive organic inbound traffic, facilitating over 750,000 historical transactions across credit, loan, and insurance verticals.

Asset-Light Brokerage Model: The business combines affiliate lead generation with own-brand, digital-first insurance products under its Bubblegum brand, underwritten by third-party insurers, allowing it to capture a larger share of the transaction value chain. This structural advantage supported a revenue recovery to US$38.3m in FY25, underpinned by deep integration with over 120 partner financial institutions.

Structural Profitability Volatility: The company faces intense rivalry from well-funded regional aggregators and direct-to-consumer digital banks, requiring continuous marketing expenditure that compresses operating margins. This dynamic contributed to a net loss of US$3.7m in FY24, when revenue fell 13 per cent and a largely non-cash US$3.7m share-based payment charge was recognised, before profitability returned in FY25 on unaudited summary data. The company also relies heavily on a concentrated group of commercial banking partners for commission income.


MoneySmart: Building a Digital Financial Comparison Platform (Initiation)

Lendela Pte. Ltd. operates as a mortgage loan broker. The Company operates platform for loans and SME financing solutions. Lendela serves customers in Singapore and Malaysia.

<ul>
<li>
Regional Loan Matchmaking Platform: Lendela operates a digital consumer finance platform across Singapore and Hong Kong, utilising a reverse-auction model to connect retail borrowers with over 100 licensed financial institutions. The company has processed more than 500,000 loan applications since inception, acting as an asset-light intermediary that centralises credit access without holding loans on its own balance sheet.</li>
<li>
Rapid Top-Line Expansion: The core value driver rests on the platform's ability to generate high-intent borrower leads, which drove revenue from US$1.9m in FY22 to US$5.2m in FY24. This growth is underpinned by proprietary API integrations with lenders and national identity systems, creating a scalable business model that monetises exclusively through successful loan disbursements.</li>
<li>
Structurally Negative Unit Economics: The company relies heavily on expensive paid advertising channels to drive consumer traffic, resulting in a complete absence of near-term operating leverage. This high customer acquisition cost drove a widening net loss of US$2.3m in FY24; although the loss narrowed in FY25, continued cash outflows from a year-end FY24 cash balance of US$2.4m make further external capital likely to be required.</li>
</ul>



Regional Loan Matchmaking Platform: Lendela operates a digital consumer finance platform across Singapore and Hong Kong, utilising a reverse-auction model to connect retail borrowers with over 100 licensed financial institutions. The company has processed more than 500,000 loan applications since inception, acting as an asset-light intermediary that centralises credit access without holding loans on its own balance sheet.

Rapid Top-Line Expansion: The core value driver rests on the platform's ability to generate high-intent borrower leads, which drove revenue from US$1.9m in FY22 to US$5.2m in FY24. This growth is underpinned by proprietary API integrations with lenders and national identity systems, creating a scalable business model that monetises exclusively through successful loan disbursements.

Structurally Negative Unit Economics: The company relies heavily on expensive paid advertising channels to drive consumer traffic, resulting in a complete absence of near-term operating leverage. This high customer acquisition cost drove a widening net loss of US$2.3m in FY24; although the loss narrowed in FY25, continued cash outflows from a year-end FY24 cash balance of US$2.4m make further external capital likely to be required.


Lendela: Scaling a Loan-Matching Platform from Singapore (Initiation)

Research Lead at pvtIQ writing about the next generation of private companies in Singapore and beyond.

Over 10 years experience in capital markets and strategy, matched with real-world entrepreneurial experience across consumer ventures and tech startups. 

As an institutional investor, I looked at ASEAN markets. Regular attendee to regional conferences and participated in flagship IPOs across consumer, tech and healthcare counters, among others, with strong returns.

Always building and learning. Open to connecting with fellow researchers, founders and investors.