Tag Archives: Invested

Taiwanese host Hsu Nai-lin is the latest in a list of celebrities who have ventured into the food and beverage business in Singapore.

The 65-year-old was in town on Friday (July 12) to visit seafood restaurant The First Stop, of which he is a partner. 

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, he shared that the owner of the restaurant is a friend, Yizi (transliteration), whom he has known for a decade. 

“From what I know, the decoration and rent of the entire restaurant cost about $1 million, and I invested about $200,000 to $300,000,” said Nai-lin, adding that this is his first business venture in Singapore. However, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of opening another outlet if the restaurant does well.

When asked if he intends to invest in other business ventures here, he…

SoftBank seeks to sue a social app it had once invested in, IRL at a $1.1 billion valuation.

It is suing the now-defunct company for fraud, alleging $150 million in damages.

Background

IRL had the potential to become an event organizing alternative for Gen Z, who are using Facebook less and less.

It sought to materialize on this and its self-reported numbers were impressive enough to earn a $170 million Series C funding led by SoftBank in 2021.

However, earlier this summer, an internal investigation by its own board of directors found that 95% of the app’s users were fake.

False user download claims

SoftBank explains that it was encouraged to invest due to its impressive user numbers.

The app claimed it had been downloaded by 25% of U.S. teens under 28 years old and was growing at…