Deep Dive: The Honestbee story (so far)

Singapore-based grocery delivery startup Honestbee was a well-loved brand. Its brick-and-mortar grocery store, Habitat, was touted to have the world’s first checkout system that required minimal intervention from shoppers, as well as the first grocery collection system that was entirely reliant on robots.

But news of Honestbee suspending operations in a number of its key markets uncovered a series of questionable corporate governance practices and a bad leadership culture.

Honestbee’s founders (L-R): Isaac Tay, Joel Sng, and Jonathan Low. Photo credit: Honestbee.

What went wrong? Tech in Asia’s chief correspondent, Terence Lee, shares the story behind the company’s troubles.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Update to the story
02:07 – Intro music
02:49 – This week’s topic: Honestbee
03:29 – Honestbee’s origin story
03:56 – Terence’s first impressions of ex-CEO Joel Sng
05:10 – Honestbee’s growth and launching Habitat
05:55 – Early signs of trouble
06:29 – The beginning of market suspensions
07:21 – The problem: It starts right at the top
08:31 – What Honestbee was spending so much money on and why
09:53 – An overcontrolling company culture
11:03 – A leadership team with barely any leadership experience
12:56 – The impact of Honestbee’s problems
14:18 – Uncovering odd transactions and dubious corporate governance practices
15:38 – Complaints about investment terms from investors
16:25 – Under new management
16:58 – Attempts to salvage the company
18:31 – Plans to pay creditors and former employees
19:15 – An example of why it’s more important to pursue sustainable growth
20:32 – Can Honestbee turn things around?
21:43 – The next steps
22:23 – The lesson learned

Download the full transcript here.

Featured reporter:

• Terence Lee, Tech in Asia’s chief correspondent based in Singapore

Essential reading:

• Layoffs and resignations at Honestbee as regional expansion hits a snag
• Honestbee: The inside story of what went wrong and what’s next
• The irresponsible demise of Honestbee
• Honestbee co-founder speaks up for the first time after leaving the startup
• Honestbee investigating transactions under ex-CEO Joel Sng
• Honestbee may shut supermarket for good as funding talks stall
• The Honestbee ex-chairman’s lonely fight to keep his dream alive

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