Do you know? eFishery scandalThe fraud hinged on shell / nominee entities secretly controlled by Gibran that were passed off as independent customers and partners, and a more robust due‑diligence approach with systematic beneficial‑ownership checks and related‑party scrutiny could have exposed common ownership and addresses, suggesting that KWAP’s reviews of counterparties were either superficial or…
Do you know? eFishery scandalKWAP leaned on audited accounts and consortium‑level due diligence instead of independently stress‑testing eFishery’s revenue, and more intrusive, bottom‑up verification of sales and counterparties could have flagged the CEO‑controlled shell‑company network that later proved to account for as much as 75% of reported sales and hundreds of millions of dollars in…
Do you know? eFishery scandalOnce the fraud was exposed, eFishery’s unicorn status collapsed, prompting layoffs, shutdown of operations, and moves toward liquidating core businesses as investor confidence disappeared. Indonesian courts sentenced former CEO Gibran to 9 years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering. For investors, the episode has turned into a recovery and legal‑action…
Do you know? eFishery scandalThe fraud at eFishery went undetected by regular audits from major firms like PwC and Grant Thornton, and was only exposed in 2024 after whistleblowers triggered a forensic investigation that uncovered falsified accounts, dual books, shell companies, and fabricated customer transactions, revealing that reported profits (including USD16 million in the first…
Do you know? eFishery scandalKWAP entered eFishery at the July 2023 Series D round as a minority investor, committing about RM163-195 million (USD40-48 million) for a 2.51% stake alongside global names like Temasek and SoftBank, based on audited accounts and external due diligence. While the investment was intended as diversified exposure in a larger consortium,…
Do you know? eFishery scandaleFishery’s fundraising story evolved from a small aquaculture startup into a “unicorn” valued around USD1.3-1.4 billion after a USD200 million Series D in 2023, following a USD90 million Series C in 2022. Major institutions including Temasek, SoftBank, Northstar, Abu Dhabi’s 42X Fund, 500 Global, and KWAP invested based on audited financials…
Do you know? eFishery scandaleFishery’s alleged fraud started around its 2018 Series A fundraise, when then‑CEO Gibran Huzaifah is said to have set up shell / nominee companies posing as customers to fabricate sales. These entities produced fake documents that fed into the company’s financials, while Gibran reportedly kept two sets of books—one reflecting actual…
Do you know? AI selloffAI is now the US economy’s main growth bet: markets and policymakers expect generative AI and automation to spark a fresh productivity wave as past engines (globalisation, shale, smartphones) wane. Investment, valuations and optimism assume AI will boost output per worker enough to offset ageing, high debt and weaker global growth….
Do you know? AI selloffOne of the issues about the AI selloff is circular deals. These are arrangements where chipmakers, hyperscalers and AI startups take stakes in each other while simultaneously committing to buy each other’s GPUs, cloud capacity or services, so capital and revenue are recycled within a tight group rather than coming purely…
Do you know? AI selloffWall Street still expects big gains ahead for core AI stocks, with 12‑month targets implying roughly 50-60% rebounds for leaders like Nvidia and Micron. The recent drop is being framed more as a valuation “recalibration” than a crash, driven by stretched multiples, weak realised ROI on many enterprise gen‑AI projects, and…