From a phone plan for cat parents to a keyless life: Two Singaporean founders share tips from their US start-up journeys

Synopsis: Every third Friday of the month, The Straits Times gets its US Bureau Chief to analyse the hottest political and trending talking points.

In this episode, US bureau chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with Jasmin Young and Anthony Chow about how they established successful businesses in the US.

Jasmin Young has launched and led several Silicon Valley-based startups including Gather, which aims to build the world's first AI-based telco. She also steered Netreo, an enterprise software business, which was recognised by Inc 5000 as a fastest growing private company for eight consecutive years until 2024. She teaches at University of California, Berkeley and the National University of Singapore.

Anthony Chow, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Igloo, has unlocked a key part of the sharing economy. His firm creates smart locks, devices and enterprise software for homes, commercial properties and infrastructure worldwide. It has logged one billion unlocks annually and was named ‘International Startup of the Year’ at the Austin A List Awards 2025. A Stanford graduate, he also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the National University of Singapore.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:26 What’s Meow Mobile?

2:38 What’s Igloo?

9:14 Using AI to help connect people & products at scale

12:37 How can start-ups stand out in a crowd?

16:28 Why Anthony sent his smart locks into space

20:21 It’s a marathon, not a sprint

23:19 Jasmin’s biggest breakthrough during Covid

26:37 Does the Singapore brand help?

Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo

Bhagyashree Garekar’s LinkedIn: https://str.sg/gD6E

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz

Host: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

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As local farms keep closing, will stockpiling, import diversification and global partnerships be enough to safeguard Singapore’s food security?

Synopsis: Every first and third Tuesday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

The past few years have not been fertile ground for the growth of Singapore’s local farms. Many agri-food businesses have closed or scaled down their operations amid a high operating cost environment. Last November, the Singapore Food Agency finally announced that it will be dropping its original “30 by 30” target, under which Singapore aimed to produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.

There are other efforts in place to safeguard the food import-dependent country’s food security, such as import diversification, stockpiling and global partnerships. But with climate change wrecking havoc on crop yields and recent geopolitical events disrupting long-standing bilateral relationships, can Singapore afford not to have a strategic plan for local production? Green Pulse hosts Audrey Tan and David Fogarty discuss the challenges in this episode.

Have a listen and let us know what you think!

Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

3:38 Why do farms in Singapore keep closing?

10:49 What are the four pillars in Singapore’s approach to safeguarding food security?

12:48 With climate change affecting crop yields, how effective will import diversification and intergovernmental pacts be in ensuring food security?

16:05 Other than securing supplies of food, what are other areas to look at to boost food security?

Read more on The Straits Times: https://str.sg/sLPM

Follow Audrey Tan on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/848W

Read her articles: https://str.sg/JLM2

Follow David Fogarty on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/jcvy

Read his articles: https://str.sg/JLMu

Hosts: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg) & David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Hadyu Rahim

Executive producers: Ernest Luis & Lynda Hong

Follow Green Pulse Podcast here and get notified for new episode drops:

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The conversation over the key announcement from Budget 2026 continues.

On Feb 12, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled a record $154.7 billion Budget, how the Government is doubling down on its AI push. For Singaporeans worried about the cost of living, there was household relief in the form of payouts and CDC vouchers.

In this episode of the podcast, Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah discusses the reason for the big AI push and how the Government planning to deal with the downsides of AI like job losses and its environmental impact?

Also joining the conversation are Singapore Management University’s Assistant Professor of Political Science Nathan Peng and the SGTech co-chair of AI, Cloud, and Data Chapter Mr Gunasekharan Chellappan.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:22 Will CDC vouchers be a permanent fixture of the Budget?

5:34 Could Budget 2026 have helped lower income families more?

10:05 “Some people don’t feel like their lives have gotten 2.5 times better.”

12:58 Why do people perceive they aren’t doing well?

18:27 Don’t look at AI as new technology: Guna

21:25 ‘E-nannying’ should stop: Nathan

25:00 Anxiety over being made redundant by AI

30:20 Healthy concern vs unwarranted anxiety?

35:25 Losing the human connection over AI

40:17 Will there be more regulation with stronger AI push?

42:24 Mitigating the negative environmental effects of AI

45:42 How to pick which AI course to take

Filmed by: Studio+65

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai, Eden Soh and Chen Junyi

Executive producers: Danson Cheong, Elizabeth Khor & Ernest Luis

Editorial producers: Elizabeth Law & Lynda Hong

Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday:

Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm

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