UK’s Ocado looks to shake up SEA’s grocery tech

Opening Bell 🔔 is Tech in Asia’s free newsletter that brings you the biggest news and latest trends around Asia’s publicly listed tech companies. [Read from your browser]( Opening Bell 🔔 Welcome to the Opening Bell! Delivered every Monday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and latest trends on Asia’s publicly listed tech companies. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Written by Nikita Puri Journalist Hello {NAME} “...just another day in the company’s journey” is not how I’d describe it if my startup was ringing the opening bell. But unlike Henry Chan’s ShopBack, my startup hasn’t just [banked US$30 million]( as it gears up for an [IPO](. To be fair, my firm - no, all of my firms - exist only in my mind, but a girl can dream. After all, we are living in an age when robots are whizzing around somewhere in a logistics warehouse, collecting items people have ordered from the comfort of our homes - all without any humans in sight. The logistics warehouse in this context is one developed by the Ocado Group (OCDO, LON), a UK-based online grocery company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Ocado’s plans to expand into Southeast Asia are also [the subject of our Big Story](. The company has partnered with South Korea’s Lotte Group - a conglomerate that operates over 1,000 department stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets - to build six multistoried customer fulfillment centers (CFCs). By design, CFCs are highly automated warehouses that tap into AI, big data, etc. While the news of this partnership sent Ocado’s shares soaring, my colleague, Simon, looks into a pertinent question: Is this model viable for Southeast Asian countries with low wages? He also dives into the ripples this partnership could have on the local tech scene - an equally significant question. -- Nikita  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE BIG STORY [Grocery tech firm Ocado’s SEA entry could shake up the scene]( Ocado, which helps set up grocery chains with their own online operations, is eyeing a slice of Southeast Asia’s fast-growing online grocery market. 3 TRENDS TO KEEP AN EYE ON Hot stocks, earnings reports, restructuring, pressure from activist investors, and more. 1️⃣ A “fast” year: A lot has happened for Vietnam’s Vinfast in 2022. In January, the automotive startup said it’ll produce [only electric vehicles by late 2022]( and cease production of cars with internal combustion engines. In March, the firm announced it was setting up EV [manufacturing plants]( in the US, and in July, it opened six showrooms in California and said it was [raising US$4 billion]( for manufacturing in the US. Now the company backed by Pham Nhat Vuong, the richest man in Vietnam, has filed papers to [list in the US](. It’s expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the VFS ticker. 2️⃣ Perks of sleeping at work: Tom Zhu, president of Tesla China and a global vice president at Tesla (TSLA, NDAQ), is rumored to have been handpicked to be [the firm’s new CEO](. The EV manufacturer kicked off sales in Thailand last week, launching [two models reportedly]( at competitive prices. Musk’s leadership at the company has come under greater scrutiny ever since he took over the reins at Twitter. While testifying in a case where a Tesla shareholder alleged that Musk’s pay package was excessive, another shareholder had said that Musk had proposed a successor for Tesla. During the trial, Musk had also said he “doesn’t want to be [the CEO of any company]( Strange words for a person who holds the position at at least three of the companies he pilots. That said, the unbroken focus of someone who’s been with Tesla for some time - since 2014 to be exact - could put shareholders’ minds at ease amid talk that Tesla doesn’t have Musk’s full attention. In fact, the uptick in Tesla’s sales is often attributed to Zhu’s strategies. Tesla has [reportedly delivered 936,000 vehicles]( globally in 2021 - 51.7% of which were made at the Shanghai plant. This factory delivered 100,291 vehicles in November this year alone, setting a record for monthly deliveries. Icing on the cake? Zhu appears to be a man after Musk’s own heart – much like Musk did at his Fremont plant to ensure delivery targets, Zhu has reportedly slept in the [Shanghai Gigafactory plant for two months]( when manufacturing was hit during a pandemic-related shutdown. 3️⃣ Too late to name this section the EV Special? While the economic downturn and the premium price tags for EVs are still reasons to pause, there’s no doubt the future is closely entwined with the sector. But, the devil’s in the details: You’ve got to choose the right horse to bet on. Among select others, XPeng (XPEV, NYSE) is one stock [expected to do well]( in 2023. The Chinese manufacturer has reportedly seen robust [deliveries recently](. XPeng also hopes to launch [its robot taxi business]( in Guangzhou next year and then expand to other cities - one of the company’s sports utility vehicles has already passed [the requisite autonomous driving test]( That said, November has been promising for [other EV makers]( like BYD (002594, SHE), and Nio (NIO, NYSE) too.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  2 EYE-POPPING FACTS Tech in Asia scours the internet to bring you head-turning numbers from the world of business.  [US$9 billion:]( That’s the estimated size of the contracts awarded by the US Department of Defence for cloud services to Amazon (AMZN, NDAQ), Google (GOOGL, NDAQ), Microsoft (MSFT, NDAQ), and Oracle (ORCL, NYSE). The expected date of completion is June 8, 2028. [US$88 million]( is the expected market value - a midpoint - if Singapore-based Ohmyhome can raise US$15 million by offering 3.3 million shares at US$4 to US$5 apiece in its IPO in the US. Founded in 2015, the real estate brokerage and property services platform has filed its papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker OMH. The company booked US$2.4 million in total revenue for the six months ended June 30 this year - up from US$1.7 million in the same period in 2021.  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE ONES YOU DIDN'T SEE COMING We spotlight the unusual, not-your-everyday kind of story that had everyone talking and social media buzzing over the past week.  1 The one you didn’t see coming Move aside ape NFTs, anime-styled profiles are here Much of last week was an endless journey from [one ChatGPT]( post to another. In fact, the prevalence of ChatGPT on my Twitter feed was such that it stood transformed into an Instagram page featuring screenshots of conversations with AI. I have to admit, this is the best we’ve seen to date in the context, but there’s still [a long way to go](. Other than these conversations, which lost their shine pretty soon since you had to sift through all the muck to find the gems, there was another striking feature on my timeline: Lo and behold, Tencent’s (0700, HKG) anime photo generator was all over social media with people switching their display pictures to those generated by anime-trained AI. But issues have arisen sooner than you’d expect - it’s been flagged for[ allegations of racism](. In its current stage, not only does it lighten the skin of people of color, but it also turns pictures of some into primates. Yelp! That aside, Tencent was so overloaded with interest that it had to put a pause on people coming in for anime-styled portraits. Elsewhere, this same kind of application - which turns a selfie into an anime character - has “turbocharged the Meitu app to the top of Japan’s download rankings over the past week, spurring a big jump in the company’s shares,” [reports Bloomberg](. Shares of the Hong Kong-based firm have shot up by over 50% in the past few weeks and its downloads are also topping the charts, thanks to the photo-to-anime converter. That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to our preference center at the bottom of this email. Happy investing and see you next week! Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Kindly do not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. 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