60/40 Ep2: Unpacking Chocolate Finance // China’s Seven Titans and AI Push // Malaysia’s Chip Dream

In this episode of the 60/40 Podcast, the hosts dive deep into the recent drama surrounding Chocolate Finance, a fintech company in Singapore, alongside special guest, Aleksey Mironenko. They discuss the rapid rise of the company, its innovative product offerings, and the subsequent fallout due to marketing miscalculations and customer trust issues. The conversation also touches on the broader implications for the fintech industry, the role of influencers in shaping customer behavior, and the regulatory landscape. Finally, the hosts explore the current state of China's tech scene and Malaysia's ambitions in the AI and semiconductor sectors, concluding with reflections on the future of these markets. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to the 60/40 Podcast 01:22 The backstory to the Chocolate Finance drama 03:50 Understanding Chocolate Finance's product 13:10 The challenge of instant liquidity 22:50 Challenges of frequent flyer promotions 28:50 The dangers of finfluencers and homogeneous population 36:06 The one thing that Chocolate did wrong 41:51 The rise of China's Seven Titans 51:55 Malaysia's AI and semiconductor industry potential ================= Co-hosted by: Prashanth Ranganathan, Peter Bithos, and Maria Li A podcast by Tech in Asia, a member of The Business Times ================= Let's keep in touch: • FB: https://www.facebook.com/techinasia/ • IG: https://www.instagram.com/techinasia/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/techinasia Tech in Asia (YC W15) is the largest English-language technology media company that focuses on Asia. From the latest news to the hottest trends and the boldest startups to the strongest titans, we cover everything tech in the region. Our goal is to build and serve Asia’s tech and startup community. Apart from producing and delivering quality editorial content, we connect brands with early adopters via Studios, our advertising agency unit. We organize tech conferences and events across Asia, and we operate the region’s go-to startup and technology jobs marketplace. See you on https://www.techinasia.com 🙂