Founded in 2018, Sagtec Global Limited was a three-person operation in Kuala Lumpur, aiming to digitise Malaysia's F&B sector. Fast forward to March 2025, and Sagtec listed on the NASDAQ at an IPO price of $3.60. But the public markets have been unforgiving, the stock has since lost nearly 50% of its value.

Kevin joins BFM to unpack the realities of a NASDAQ listing. We discuss why he spent $2.1 million (nearly 30% of his raised capital) on listing fees, why he chose the US over a local exchange for "branding and credibility," and how he plans to recover shareholder confidence.

We discuss:

• The Origin Story: Why Kevin quit a stable job in 2018 to digitize an industry still relying on handwritten orders, and how the pandemic became his biggest tailwind.

• The NASDAQ Reality Check: Why list in the US? Kevin defends the decision as a branding play to open doors in markets like Thailand, despite the stock’s poor performance and lack of US investor understanding.

• The $2.1 Million Lesson: The true cost of listing and why Kevin admits he underestimated the need for Investor Relations (IR) post-IPO.

• From SaaS to RaaS: The shift to "Robot-as-a-Service." How Sagtec plans to deploy robotic arms for cooking and prep to generate recurring revenue from multi-chain restaurants.

• The AI Pivot: Is it just buzzwords? Kevin explains how they are integrating AI not for chat, but for data analytics, helping restaurant owners identify best-selling items and peak hours automatically.

• Risk Management: Addressing the concentration risk where 3 customers make up 60% of revenue and 2 vendors account for 60% of costs, and the plan to diversify through direct sales.

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