IN FOCUS
Hello Betamax, If life’s practical realities hadn’t gotten in the way, PropertyGuru CEO Lewis Ng might have been an artist. Instead, he’s held C-suite roles across various marketplace businesses from Seek to Carousell, and he’s currently leading a property marketplace with close to 2 million listings across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In an in-depth interview last week, Ng spoke with me about what it’s like returning to a company, how he’s made being right-brained his strength, and why going private has been “a great thing” for PropertyGuru. The firm has gone through a series of major changes in the last few years, including shutting down its property financing and home services businesses. Today’s top story – offers a peek into Ng’s leadership philosophy, the company’s approach to AI, and why he doesn’t expect LLMs to replace the need for its platform anytime soon. It’s part of our revamped Big Interview series, and we’d love to hear from you if you think there’s someone we should feature. Send your nominations to melissa@techinasia.com or editors@techinasia.com. Melissa Goh, senior editor
TOP STORYPropertyGuru’s second act begins with doing less
Digital collage by Ulla, photo courtesy of PropertyGuru
For many Southeast Asians trying to buy or rent a home, PropertyGuru is a familiar name. The firm has been through its share of ups and downs, going from being listed on the NYSE to being taken private. In recent years, it has had to make redundancies and cut back on businesses like property financing, home services, and data and software. In this in-depth interview, PropertyGuru CEO Lewis Ng reflects on the artist career he didn’t pursue and the life decisions that brought him to where he is.
FROM OUR ARCHIVESStashAway revenue jumps 42% in H1 2026, beating 2025 figures
StashAway CEO Michele Ferrario / Photo credit: StashAway
Back in August of this year, we took a look at Singapore-based digital wealth platform StashAway’s financials for 2025, including a 25% year on year revenue surge. It’s not the only wealthtech firm thriving in the Lion City, though. Syfe, another wealthtech firm based in the city-state, recently announced that its assets under management (AUM) had surpassed US$15.7 billion. The figure marks a 50% increase since the firm’s acquisition of Australia-based investment platform Selfwealth in May 2025. While StashAway didn’t disclose its AUM, the firm has been EBITDA-positive in Singapore for two years running.
TRENDING NEWS1️⃣ AMD tops $1t in market value on AI lift AMD is the fourth US chipmaker to cross the US$1 trillion threshold, after Nvidia, Broadcom, and Micron. 2️⃣ KKR sees record $3b invested in South Korea this year The US buyout firm expects its dealmaking activity in South Korea to increase amid the AI boom, as local conglomerates become more open to outside investors. 3️⃣ BDx breaks ground on 640MW AI data center in Indonesia The new facility will be developed over about three years and is part of BDx’s more than 1.2 gigavolt-amperes of secured grid capacity across the country. 4️⃣ Chinese chipmaker Ligent to start HK trading after $727m IPO The Qingdao-based company, which develops optical transceivers and chips for data center networks, plans to use the proceeds to fund its R&D efforts and expand production capacity. 5️⃣ Supercell backs Singapore game startup Hyperbond Studio Supercell, the company behind Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars, invested after Hyperbond joined the game developer’s AI Innovation Lab.
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