Examining the narrative behind Team Labs’ teenage founder

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The nature of our work here at Tech in Asia means that we get to hear lots of stories. We hear tales of great triumph, great struggle, success against the odds, and colossal failures. We hear stories from founders from all walks of life and from startups across different countries and industries.

Sometimes, these stories are amazing. But sometimes, we need to scrutinize them further. Tech in Asia’s job is to dig deep, peel back the layers, and look beneath the glitter and glamor in order to find the truth. And every so often, we find questions worth asking.

Today we look at:

• Whether this teenage founder’s high-profile startup is all that it’s cracked up to be
• The rise and fall of this halal blockchain
• Other newsy highlights such as SoftBank’s profits and this Indian auto marketplace’s IPO plans

PREMIUM SUMMARY

The question marks around this startup

Team Labs is a Singapore-based software company that’s purportedly valued at US$25 million and employs over 100 workers. It was founded by Harsh Dalal, a 19-year-old student from Singapore. Media attention on the young founder has been tremendous, with Dalal making it to Forbes’ most recent 30 Under 30 list. However, a Tech in Asia investigation has found gaps in Team Labs’ narrative.

• Investor who? One of Team Labs’ most striking achievements is its supposed $9.8 million fundraising, which Dalal claims happened entirely online. But several of the company’s reported investors – including South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund – were later said to have not invested at all. As for Team Labs’ sole investor, Silicon Valley firm Grand Canyon Capital, we were unable to validate its existence outside of its website.
• Employees not found: Team Labs’ page on LinkedIn currently lists only five employees, despite the company reportedly having 120. Similarly, we were unable to verify these employees’ details through a third-party source – including the alma maters listed on their profiles.
• Product in progress: According to its website, Team Labs has four software-as-a-service products that all revolve around the “future of work.” However, despite reportedly having 70,000 users and 2,500 monthly active users, an online search of Team Labs’ products did not turn up any relevant third-party reviews or social media mentions.

Dalal maintains that the company and its big-picture story are legitimate. But on May 11, he provided a statement claiming that despite holding the co-founder and CEO title, he never had executive powers. Plus, all the numbers were “conveyed by” Grand Canyon Capital and therefore cannot be attributed to him.

After this story was published, Forbes removed Dalal from its 30 Under 30 list.

Read more: Scrutinizing the remarkable tale of this teenage Forbes 30 under 30 inductee

From lofty goals to dead coin

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