The Edge Malaysia| Cover Story: The first 100 days - Make Malaysia the leader of the Asean digital revolution
Excerpt taken from an article originally written by Cindy Yeap, and published by Edge Malaysia.
PATRICK Y-Kin Grove
Technopreneur, co-founder and group CEO of Catcha Group. He is also master developer of Kuala Lumpur Internet City, site of the private-public Digital Free Trade Zone.
Malaysia, in particular, has tremendous potential to be the leader of the digital revolution in Asean. However, in order to leap ahead of our neighbours — for example, Singapore, whose government has been very welcoming of tech businesses — the government and tech leaders need to work hand in hand. Here are our five big ideas for making Malaysia the leader of the Asean digital revolution.
Bloomberg | Catcha's Grove Says No Shortage of Entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia
Patrick Grove, co-founder of Kuala Lumpur-based Catcha Group, which builds and invests in internet companies, talks about his business strategy, entrepreneurship and startups in Southeast Asia. He speaks on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi with Bloomberg's Haslinda Amin. (Source: Bloomberg)
Tech in Asia| Southeast Asia’s top 30 tech startup founders
Excerpt taken from an article originally written by Daniel Tay, and published by Tech in Asia.
A succinct way to describe Iflix is that it’s Southeast Asia’s answer to Netflix – except that its co-founder, Patrick Grove, doesn’t like to compare his company with the US behemoth.
Grove’s view is not to be dismissed, given his track record of starting Catcha Group, iProperty, Rev Asia, and iCar Asia.
While working to stabilize Catcha in 2006 after the dotcom bubble, he started iProperty Group. Within a year, the real estate portal held an IPO on the Australian stock exchange. He later sold the companyto Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group for US$534 million.
Since then, Grove has been aiming for an even bigger trade debut – a multibillion IPO for Iflix in the US.
Still, the Malaysian company has to contend with Netflix and Hooq, as well as Disney’s upcoming video service. Iflix has made its video-on-demand services available in 25 countries across Asia and Africa, with programming in 14 languages.
Latest funding stage: US$133 million series C led by Hearst Communications
Business is a team sport - and that's why people matter most
We’ve arrived at the second half of the year and as I reflect on what we’ve achieved - with iflix, Common Ground, Wild Digital and the rest of our #Catchafamily, I can’t help but to feel a sense of pride at what Catcha has become.
The Australian Financial Review | How the rich invest: tech guru Patrick Grove's top investment picks
Article originally written by Julie-ann Sprague, and published by The Australian Financial Review on August 20, 2018.
Patrick Grove is one of the nation's 100 richest people. Ranked 89 on this year's Financial Review Rich List with an estimated worth of $850 million the 43-year-old pocketed a small fortune when he sold his iProperty business to REA Group in 2016. The former accountant is busy building online and mobile streaming service iflix, which aims to be the Netflix of Asia.
What do you look at when investing?
Firstly, the TAM (total addressable market). How big can this become? Is your target market 100,000 or 100 million? For us, the bigger the better.
Secondly, the team, do you have what it takes to go big. Anyone can dream big, but not everyone can scale and execute big.
How do you measure the value of a non-income producing growth company?
You look at say three to five years in the future, and see what the income would be then, assuming revenue grows faster than expenses. The five biggest companies in the world today (Amazon, Google, Apple, Tencent, Alibaba) all had long periods of 'non-income'.
Do you think we are on a fintech bubble?
Not at all. The big four banks still occupy such a huge percentage of total market cap in Australia. There is still a lot of disruption to come.
There are plenty of stocks trading on hefty multiples. Do you think the market is currently over valued?
Not at all. You have global interest rates at an unprecedented all time low, which means multiples should be higher. You have huge tax cuts in the US which means earnings will be higher and tech innovation continues to make inputs and costs lower for most smart companies.
Which stocks are catching your eye?
All the big tech leaders will continue growing faster than anyone else. If you can buy Facebook or Google at under 25x earnings, why would you buy any other blue chip? I'm very bullish the big consumer tech companies because as an insider, I see the moats around their products and its insane and just keeps growing with very little effort.
What is the dream company you'd love to own (on the ASX) indiscriminate of its valuation?
Companies that we are proud to be associated with, Frontier Digital Ventures (ASX:FDV) and iCAR Asia (ASX:ICQ). Both are in tech (not blue chips yet, but working hard on it!), have great leadership teams executing a solid strategy and probably undervalued by the market. I think a big re-rating in both is just around the corner.
Do you think value investing will make a comeback?
It never goes out of fashion. By the way, I think you can start to find 'value' investing in tech. The recent pull back in stocks like Facebook is providing a great value investing opportunity.
Property markets are softening in Melbourne and Sydney. What's your expectations for the market over the next 12 months?
Best bit of advice you can give someone with $50,000 to invest?
Depends what your goal is. If it's to be safe, buy a great rental property. If you want to maximise it hard and fast, start a tech company.
Worst investment you've made?
E-commerce!
Do you have an investment idol or someone you admire?
Warren Buffett. Been a fan since I was kid and was lucky to attend his AGM a few years ago in Omaha. It was funny to hear him say his only regret was 'not buying shares in Google'.
Culture Sh!ok on #StartupCulture at Wild Digital SEA 2018
What's #StartupCulture like in South East Asia?
At our last Wild Digital SEA 2018, Culture Sh!ok's host Melissa Tan speaks to Jeffri Cheong, Co-Founder and Group Managing Director, Kaodim; Reynazran Royono, Founder and CEO, Snapcart; Hamish Stone, Group CEO, iCar Asia; and Leon Foong, CEO of Malaysia, SoCar on topics ranging from key startup challenges to digital marketing.
Watch the full webisode below.
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Culture Sh!ok is a digital show where cultures old and contemporary in Malaysia are explored from art, fashion, music, travel, sports, innovation to food.
Watch the other episodes of Culture Sh!ok here.
Perseverance is the difference between going bust and creating a Billion Dollars in value
I had a blast speaking at Tony Robbins’ world-famous Business Mastery event just days ago in Sydney. Sharing my story with like-minded and aspiring entrepreneurs, knowing that perhaps my story might positively impact even a small part of someone’s journey, always gets me going.