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Singular ID

The Story of Commercialising a Materials Technology in Singapore

Adrian BurdenCo-founding Director of Singular ID

President Europe of Bilcare Technologies

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Overview• My background

• Phase 1 – R&D

– Materials R&D project and applications

– Proof-of-principle

– Business Planning

• Phase 2 – spinning-off

– Venture capital finance & operations

– First customer & manufacturing partners

• Phase 3 - growth

– Overseas expansion, new applications

– Product launch, further financing

• Phase 4 – exit

– Acquisition

– New opportunities and future prospects

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

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• MA Cantab, University of Cambridge• Natural Sciences (materials)

• D.Phil. Oxon, University of Oxford• Department of materials, electron microscopy of carbon

• Founding President of the OU lifesaving club

• Raychem Ltd, UK• Corporate R&D, conductive polymer composites

• University of Surrey, UK• Post doctoral research – amorphous carbon films

• Printable Field Emitters Ltd, UK• R&D Manager – field emission display technology

• Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE)• Senior Scientist and Business Development Manager

• OLED technology, ON-Singapore & Technology Roadmapping

• Singular ID Pte Ltd• Founding CEO

• Bilcare Technologies• President, Europe

My background

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Phase 1 – R&D

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Phase 1 – the R&D project

Singapore

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

R&D Project – IMRE / A-STAR

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Phase 1 – the R&D project

• Magnetic hard disk drive technology

– Quest for ever-denser information storage

– “In-plane” to “out-of-plane” magnetic bits

– Materials R&D – nanotechnology of candidate films

– Highly regular and uniform disk media – very difficult!

Image source: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

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Phase 1 – the passport analogy

Passport number

•Serial # or index #

•Makes searching a database

quick and easy

Photograph, signature or

fingerprint

•The security / biometric

Barcode

•Serial # or index #

•Makes searching a database quick

and easy

Materials “fingerprint”

•The security feature

•Cannot be replicated

Giving products “fingerprints”

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Phase 1 – applications: the problem of counterfeits

Authorised

factory

Authorised distribution

Grey market diversion

Product overruns

Copycat

factory

R&D $

Quality

Testing

Brand owner

Counterfeit products

Impact on Brand Owner

Lower margins

Unforeseen liabilities

Distribution license issues

Lost revenues

Over supply

Increased warranty claims

Lower margins

Lost revenues

Increased warranty claims

Brand erosion

Product liabilities

Interpol estimates 5-7% of world trade involves counterfeits

This is equivalent to over USD 500 billion in lost sales

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Phase 1 – leading to a proof-of-principle

•Credit cards and paper with “fingerprint” tag

•Scanner with sensor and electronics

•Mobile phone and software

•Back-end database

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Phase 1 – R&D - Highlights• Proof of Principle

• Publicity

– “Singular ID”

• Market Research

• Business Plan

• License Agreement

Explaining the technology to the President of

SingaporeSigning of the license agreement

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Phase 1 - our toolbox

• Laboratory log books

• Travellers / process control

– TRAV 1.1, 2.1, etc

• First-cut roadmap

• Non-Disclosure Agreements

• Executive Summary

– EXEC 1.1, 1.2, etc

• Business Plan

• Information sheets

• Presentation

• License Agreement (and benchmarks)

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Phase 1 - our first-cut roadmap

Market trends

Finance &

Revenue

Infrastructure

Accreditation

Staff

Revenue

Materials

Tag

Scanner

Dispenser

Database

Mid 2005

Spin-off2006 2007 2008

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Phase 1 – looking back

• What we did well

– Kept detailed records of all work and correspondence

– Created an internal shared IT resource

– Used government funding to create a proof-of-principle

– Filed 2 patents that became a good foundation

– Negotiated a fair / rigorous license agreement

– Started some early branding & publicity

• Where we could have done better

– Secured venture finance before „spinning-off‟

– Found a customer before „spinning-off‟

– Had a more relevant „hand-held‟ prototype device

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Phase 2 – Spinning Off

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Phase 2 – spinning-off & starting operations

Singapore

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

R&D Project – IMRE / A-STAR

1st runner-upfinalist

winner Series A

Acquired by Bilcare

Spin-off company

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Phase 2 - why Singapore?Incubators &

Science Parks

National infrastructure &

capability

Universities &

Research Institutes

Basic research

Platform technology

Application driven

Prototypes

Business development

Sales

Supply chain integration

Scale-up & manufacturing

Overseas Marketing & growth

R&D

equipment

Education

IP generation

Business

acumen

Corporate

governance

LogisticsIT &

infrastructure

Start-up

community

R&D grants

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Phase 2 – why Singapore?

• R&D – Science, Engineering, Biomedical

• Applied research and enhancement schemes

• Economic development

• Attracting MNCs, supporting SMEs

• Standards and Productivity

• Supports technology and commerce

• International Enterprise

• Overseas expansion and branding

• Infocomm Development

• IT and infrastructure focused

Other agencies and organisations play important roles too

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Phase 2 – Spinning off - Highlights

Investment from Advance Nanotech

Production Partners

Product Development

Winner of Major Business Plan Competition

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Phase 2 – our operational model

Established

hardware suppliers

Scanner

contract manufacturers

Tag and Label

contract manufacturers

Internet & Mobile

service providers

Singular ID

IP & Systems Integration

Data management

Out-sourcing & partnerships

Customers

Channel Marketing

Joint ventures

Brand security companies

IT Platform companies

Leveraging on

alliances

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Phase 2 – lucky break

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Phase 2 – our toolbox

• Company templates – NDAs, Travellers, etc

• Employment contracts

• Accounting package (Excel to start!)

• Term sheets / Investment Agreements

• Letter Agreements

• PO system, Invoice system, CRM

• Budget sheets

• Board Reports

• Server

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Phase 2 – looking back

• What we did well

– Moved into presentable „incubation‟ premises

– Generated publicity

– Secured venture finance

– Obtained a customer and had focus

– Watched the cash flow carefully

– Secured a government R&D grant

– Won a significant business plan competition

• Where we could have done better

– Secured a bit more finance

– Captured more of the „lower end of the market‟

– Added a more senior member to our team earlier on

– Used a good accounting package early on

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Phase 3 – Growth

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Phase 3 – growth

Singapore

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

R&D Project – IMRE / A-STAR

1st runner-upfinalist

winner Series A

Acquired by Bilcare

Spin-off company

winner

Padua, Italy

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Phase 3 - our first customer

• Sanden, air-conditioning compressor

Sanden Non-Sanden

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Phase 3 – Sanden’s production line

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Phase 3 - fashion & luxury sector

Partnership with Euromark

• to make enxure labels for the European

luxury goods segment

Euromark overview

• holds about 30% market share of labels for

European handbags and clothing

Current status

• Identified European launch customer

• Labels passed all customer’s testing to date

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Phase 3 - no to fakes

• Visit www.notofakes.com for more information about fake products

• As a brand owner you can connect with customers using our hosted page service

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Phase 3 – Growth - Highlights

Minister of State for Trade & Industry,

Singapore, attended product launch

Awards

Launch Customer

New Investors

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Phase 3 – our toolbox

• Accounting package (MYOB)

• More term sheets / Investment Agreements

• Detailed due diligence directories

• Extensive warrants and disclosures

• Product literature & user manuals

• EULAs and other Terms & Conditions

• Patents, trademarks, domain names management

• Publicity archive

• Permanent exhibits

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Phase 3 – looking back

• What we did well

– Continued to keep the information flowing

– Had serious „acquisition‟ discussions

– Used students to keep the cost down

– Launched a product

– Continued to watch the cash flow

– Secured another government R&D grant

• Where we could have done better

– Been less distracted by range of commercial opportunities

– Raised money overseas more quickly

– Organised our IT system ahead of future staff expansion

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Phase 4 – Exit and the future

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Phase 4 – Exit and the future

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

R&D Project – IMRE / A-STAR

1st runner-upfinalist

winner Series A

Acquired by Bilcare

Spin-off company

winner

Bilcare company

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Phase 4 - Bilcare

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Phase 4 – Highlights

New range of products

The nonClonableTM system

More awards

Rebranding and new

marketing material

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Phase 4 - the future

nonClonable™ reader

Scan then touch

Bluetooth

Phone, PDA, laptop, PC

Results via GPRS / internet

nonClonable™ label

DataMatrix & fingerprint

combined

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Overall - looking back

• Positive

– Our technology is „defect tolerant‟

– Singapore was an excellent place to start a business

– We had a clear vision and stayed focused

– We learnt a huge amount in a short space of time

– We kept the news flowing

• Negative

– Raising early stage funding for high technology was extremely difficult

– There are lots of balls in the air when you run a technology start-up. You need to quickly learn to juggle!