A tale of three Temasek startups

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When there are large-scale staff departures at a company, there’s usually something else going on at the firm. After all, these people were hired for a reason, and for them to leave in big groups often means the company made a bet or decision that didn’t pay off.

In today’s premium story, my colleague Collin takes a closer look at staff departures and write-offs at three startups that have come out of Temasek’s venture building efforts. These may have been caused by deeper issues at these companies, as losses climb and some struggle to find product-market fit.

Today we look at:

• The deeper issues at three Temasek startups
• An AI firm that predicts the origins and quality of ingredients
• Other newsy highlights such as the launch of a “programmable” digital bank and Indonesia’s new incentives for electric vehicle manufacturers

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Beneath the surface

Image credit: Timmy Loen

It’s been three years since Temasek began its venture building journey, and it seems to have hit some hurdles with three of its startups: GoodWorker, Trustana, and Affinidi, which are all under the same parent company, LemmaTree.

• What’s gone down: GoodWorker, which ran a blue-collar job platform, appears to have shut down for good, with Temasek writing off about half of its investment in the company. Trustana, which has pivoted from a B2B cross-border marketplace to a SaaS product, seems to have lost some 40% of its staff this year and has struggled to raise external funding. While its revenue grew over 7x in 2022, it remains minuscule compared to the firm’s losses.
• Last man standing? Affinidi is a blockchain startup that creates verifiable digital identities. Its tech was used to power GoodWorker as well as Trustana. It saw a lot of its staff exit during its voluntary separation scheme program. However, the company still seems to be hiring.
• What this means: The restructuring at these firms puts Temasek’s venture building strategy into sharp focus. Temasek International’s deputy CEO told Tech in Asia in a previous interview that “venture building is the best way to deliver results” instead of injecting funds in an external startup. The company just needs a few startups to succeed for it to reap the rewards.

Read more: Staff departures, write-offs at Temasek startups uncover deeper issues

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