[This is the second instalment of Vulcan Post’s three-part SG60 series, where we shine the spotlight on 60 homegrown businesses that have shaped Singapore. You can read the first part here.]
In celebration of Singapore’s 60th birthday, we continue our SG60 series spotlighting 60 homegrown businesses that have helped shape the nation’s economic landscape.
From iconic names in the F&B scene to cutting-edge tech companies that have made their mark on the global stage, these businesses reflect the grit, innovation, and ambition of Singapore’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Just like our first instalment, this second part is arranged in order of founding year—here’s the continuation of our list:
21. Prima Taste (1998)
Since 1998, homegrown brand Prima Taste has made it its mission to preserve Singapore’s culinary heritage, including dishes like laksa, prawn noodles, and fish head curry, by turning them into easy-to-cook sauce kits and instant noodle packets.
Today, its products are available in over 30 markets worldwide, serving as kitchen lifesavers for amateur cooks and comforting reminders of home for Singaporeans abroad.
The brand is managed by Prima Food, a subsidiary of Prima Group which also runs bakery, restaurant and deli franchises in Malaysia and China, as well as livestock and agri-business operations in Sri Lanka.
The group employs a 4,000-strong workforce in over 40 markets across five continents and it’s now led by second-generation owner Primus Cheng.
22. Motherswork (1998)
As soon as Sharon Wong became pregnant with her first child, she began searching for the best baby products to ensure that her baby would have everything they needed.
However, she soon realised that finding the right products was not an easy task. In 1998, she founded Motherswork in Singapore to provide a one-stop shopping experience for mothers.
The brand opened its first store at Forum The Shopping Mall and initially focused on maternity wear. Over the years, it has grown significantly and now offers a wide range of products, from baby apparel and toys to child car seats, representing over 300 international retail and distribution brands.
In Singapore, Motherswork has two stores in Singapore coupled with presence in department stores. Beyond local shores, the brand has also successfully expanded into China’s vast and competitive retail market, operating 10 outlets in the country.
In 2024, the brand was acquired by parent-tech company The Parentinc, which operates media brand theAsianparent.
23. BreadTalk Group (2000)
At just 25 years old, George Quek and his then-girlfriend (now wife), Katherine Lee, made a pivotal decision to leave for Taiwan—but little did they know that this decision would spark their entrepreneurial spirit, leading the couple to establish one of Singapore’s largest food empires.
Their journey begun with a humble kiosk along the streets of Taipei, where the duo sold traditional Dragon’s Beard candy. Following a successful 11-year run in Taiwan, during which they started several thriving F&B stores, George and Katherine decided to return to Singapore to spend more time with the former’s ageing parents.
However, their entrepreneurial journey was far from over. In the city-state, George set up food court chain Food Junction in 1993, which expanded and spread to Malaysia. Seven years later, the entrepreneur couple made another foray into bakeries with BreadTalk Group, which is now one of Singapore’s foremost brands.
In addition to the renowned bakery, the company boasts a diverse portfolio encompassing various F&B concepts including direct owned brands such as BreadTalk, Toast Box, Food Republic, Food Junction, Butter Bean, Sō Ramen, Thye Moh Chan and partner brands such as Din Tai Fung and Wu Pao Chun Bakery.
24. Pearlie White (2001)
If you don’t already know, Pearlie White is the only homegrown oral care brand in Singapore; and it is also the only brand that continues to manufacture within the country.
Pearlie White is a subsidiary of parent company Corlison, a family business founded by Dr. Cheong Chun Tin together with his two sons back in 1964.
As the first practitioner of dentistry in Singapore, Dr. Cheong was bestowed the honours of having a road (and building apparently) named after him in the Bukit Timah district.
Fast forward to today, Andy Ong, a member of the family’s third generation, has taken over Corlison and is now the managing director of Pearlie White.
The brand started distributing regionally in 2009, and today, sells its products in all of Southeast Asia, the United States, China, and the Middle East. But there is still room for expansion on its business map, with plans to break into the Central Asian market.
25. Soup Spoon (2002)
For many Singaporeans, The Soup Spoon hardly needs any introduction. The soup chain was founded by Andrew Chan, Anna Lim and Benedict Leow, whom first met each other while pursuing their bachelor’s degree at Murdoch University in Perth.
They invested S$250,000 to set up the first The Soup Spoon outlet at Raffles City in June 2002, targeting busy professionals who are on the go.
Over the years, strategic expansion focused on the brand’s core audience of working adults has helped The Soup Spoon steadily grow—and by 2008, its sales turnover hit S$7.29 million.
To date, The Soup Spoon boasts close to 30 outlets around the office and retail areas in Singapore. The brand also has franchise outlets in Taiwan and its take-home soup packs are also distributed in supermarkets in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Brunei.
Apart from soup, the company has also introduced other food and beverage brands under its umbrella, such as The Grill Knife, Antoheetos, The Handburger, The Salad Fork and Anna’s. These brands are collectively called The Soup Spoon Union.
26. Razer (2005)
Razer has grown to become an industry leader in gaming systems and peripherals, developing a devoted legion of fans worldwide.
Backed by giants Temasek Holdings and Intel Capital, the company was founded in 2005 by Singaporean entrepreneur Min-Liang Tan and the late Robert Krakoff.
It initially focused on designing high-performance gaming mice that catered specifically to the needs of professional gamers, but over the years, Razer has expanded its product lineup to include keyboards, headsets, laptops, chairs, and a full ecosystem of gaming accessories.
Tan, at the age of 40, earned the title of Singapore’s youngest self-made billionaire when Razer went public in November 2017. However, the company later chose to delist in May 2022.
27. Love, Bonito (2005)
Rachel Lim was only 19 years old when she founded a fashion blogshop in 2005. Initially called BonitoChico, she first started out selling pre-loved clothes together with her university friends.
Five years later, the business rebranded as Love, Bonito as it pivoted to designing and producing its own clothing line, recognising the need for fashion tailored to Asian women’s sizes and preferences.
Fast forward more than a decade later, Love, Bonito has grown into a multimillion-dollar fashion empire. Across Asia, it has a total of 27 stores in six markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
According to its CEO Dione Song, the company is projected to cross S$100 million in revenue and reach profitability in 2025, driven by its strong financial performance in recent years.
28. PropertyGuru Group (2007)
Founded in 2006 by Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen, PropertyGuru is the leading property portal not just in Singapore, but also across Southeast Asia. The platform connects over 31 million property seekers with more than 50,000 agents.
It is part of the PropertyGuru Group, which also offers a suite of real estate solutions, including data analytics, marketing services, and financing options, helping to streamline property transactions and enhance the overall property experience.
PropertyGuru Group began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Mar 18, 2022 following a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
However, it was privatised last year after the company agreed to be acquired by Asian investment firm EQT Private Capital Asia.
From June 2025 to June 2025, PropertyGuru’s revenue and adjusted EBITDA saw double-digit growth. The company’s last announced adjusted EBITDA was S$6.8 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.
29. Udders (2007)
Before the trend of local Singaporean ice cream cafes, one place was known as the OG: Udders Ice Cream at Novena, which opened its doors in 2007. Behind the brand is husband-and-wife team David Yim and Wong Peck Lin.
Known for its bold and unusual flavours, Udders is a popular hangout among young people; and a fun place where parents brought their kids for a treat, so they themselves could indulge in the strong alcoholic and durian flavours.
Almost two decades later, the brand is now armed with five outlets and supplies to 400 retail points around Singapore. It also has seven stores in Malaysia, three in Indonesia, and seven in the Philippines.
Other countries that Udders is honing in on include China, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. In China, they already have their Mao Shan Wang ice cream available for online purchase, as well as physically stocked in 47 Sam’s Club Warehouse Supermarkets.
Over in the Netherlands, Udders’ vegan flavours are available in almost 30 Amazing Oriental supermarkets. Meanwhile in London, vegan flavours are selling very well at the Singapulah restaurant. In three years’ time, Udders is targeting to have between 80 to 100 outlets in total.
30. TWG Tea (2008)
TWG Tea is a Singaporean luxury teahouse chain and artisanal tea brand, founded in 2008 as a subsidiary of The Wellbeing Group—hence the acronym TWG.
The brand was conceptualised by Manoj M. Murjani, a Hong Kong-born entrepreneur of Indian descent, alongside French-Moroccan tea sommelier Taha Bouqdib, with Bouqdib’s wife Maranda Barnes also among the founding partners.
TWG Tea opened its first outlet at Republic Plaza in 2008, followed by a larger flagship store at ION Orchard.
By 2009, the brand had expanded its reach internationally, with its products sold at New York’s Dean & Deluca and featured onboard Singapore Airlines flights. The brand opened its first overseas store in 2010 in Tokyo.
Today, TWG Tea has a presence in over 40 countries. In 2014, Osim, a subsidiary of the V3 Group, acquired a majority stake in TWG Tea, expanding the group’s portfolio of luxury lifestyle and wellness brands, which also includes Bacha Coffee.
31. The Parentinc (2009)
The Parentinc, formerly known as Tickled Media, was founded by Roshni Mahtani Cheung in 2009 as a parenting blog called theAsianparent.
She was inspired to start the blog after observing a gap in online parenting content for Asian parents, particularly when she was babysitting a child in New York.
Eventually, her business evolved into a multinational company providing resources and community for parents across Southeast Asia.
Beyond theAsianParent, The Parentinc has also expanded into product development and commerce, owning the Mama’s Choice brand, which produces safe, affordable, and halal-certified personal care and baby products.
In 2024, the company acquired Motherswork, a luxury retail brand for mum, baby, and kids’ products, for an undisclosed sum. Today, The Parentinc reaches 25 million parents on a monthly basis.
32. Benjamin Barker (2009)
After taking over his father’s struggling business—an outlet in MacPherson selling discounted suits and shirts and saddled with about S$500,000 in debt—Nelson Yap tried to turn things around.
Despite two years of effort and eventually turning the business profitable, he realised it would never generate enough to repay the mounting debt.
This prompted him to take a leap of faith and start up his own menswear brand, Benjamin Barker, in 2009, selling suits tailored to the Asian fit.
At the time, the menswear scene was polarised—luxury labels on one end, fast fashion on the other. Nelson saw a gap in the middle and seized the opportunity to build a brand that offered premium-quality menswear at accessible prices.
That sweet spot quickly struck a chord with consumers, and Benjamin Barker’s popularity soared. Today, the brand has 17 outlets locally, and has made its mark overseas with a growing regional footprint in Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
33. Sea Limited (2009)
In 2014, Singapore welcomed its first tech unicorn: Sea Limited. Initially known as Garena, Sea Limited was founded in 2009 by Forrest Li, who ranks as the third richest Singaporean on Forbes’ 2025 billionaire list.
Starting as a digital entertainment company focused on game publishing, it later expanded into e-commerce with Shopee and digital financial services with SeaMoney.
The company rebranded to Sea Limited in 2017 after securing substantial funding, while retaining the Garena name for its digital entertainment arm.
In October that year, the company debuted a US$884 million initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the first Singapore-based tech unicorn to go public in the United States.
Sea Limited achieved its first full year of profit in 2023 since its IPO and continued its streak by posting profits for a second consecutive year in 2024.
34. SaladStop! Group (2009)
When Adrien Desbaillets co-founded SaladStop! together with his father in 2009, the duo pretty much seized a pivotal opportunity in Singapore’s F&B landscape.
Conversations around health and wellness were gaining traction at that time, but there was just one problem: Singaporeans simply did not have many choices.
Having grown in a “vegetarian vegan” household themselves, the duo decided to fill the gap by creating a healthy fast food chain. Today, their business—now joined by Adrien’s sister, Katherine, and her husband, Frantz Braha—has expanded to 60 outlets worldwide.
To expand their reach in the healthy eating space, SaladStop! has also launched two other sister brands: Heybo, which offers warm grain and rice bowls infused with local flavours, and Wooshi, a DIY maki roll brand. Heybo currently operates seven outlets in Singapore and four in the Philippines, while Wooshi has three outlets in Singapore.
35. MightyJaxx (2012)
Founded in 2012, digital and phygital collectibles brand Mighty Jaxx was established in Jackson Aw’s bedroom on a S$20,000 loan.
What began as a passion project quickly grew into a global powerhouse in designer toys and immersive experiences, with Mighty Jaxx now shipping millions of collectibles to over 90 countries and collaborating with global brands like Netflix, Adidas, and DC Comics.
The brand’s collectibles feature NFC chips for blockchain-based authentication and provenance.
Currently, Mighty Jaxx is a multi-million dollar company and has offices in SG, China, UK, and the US, with more to come.
36. Foodpanda (2012)
In 2012, Ralf Wenzel and Benjamin Bauer founded foodpanda in Singapore. The delivery platform was initially part of a larger group called Hellofood, but later became known as foodpanda.
It grew rapidly, expanding to 16 countries in its first year, and 23 by early 2013. In 2016, the startup was acquired by Germany-based Delivery Hero in 2016.
During COVID-19, foodpanda’s business took off—it saw its revenues grow by over 2.5 times in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Today, foodpanda operates in more than 300 cities across 12 markets in Asia Pacific. This includes Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Taiwan, among others.
37. Aftershock (2012)
Aftershock PC was founded in 2012 by Marcus Wee, inspired by his experiences buying custom-built PCs as a student in Canada.
He initially focused on custom gaming laptops, seeing a gap in the Singapore market where prices were high and customisation options were limited. His brother, Joseph Wee, joined the company later that year.
The brand received rave reviews for their laptops from local press and publications, and soon found themselves a regular at tech shows in Singapore, all in the space of two years.
Today, Aftershock PC offers more than just laptops, and manufactures a range of products including desktops, workstations, PC designs, gaming monitors, and peripheral devices such as mice and keyboards.
Beyond Aftershock, Marcus and Joe have also founded other businesses: smart-home company Prism+ and ergonomic standing desk brand Omnidesk. They sold their stake in the former to the other co-founders, while the latter has become Joe’s passion. Marcus continues to focus on Aftershock.
Collectively, their businesses have hit S$100 million in annual revenue.
38. Carousell (2012)
Back in 2012, National University of Singapore (NUS) alumni—Quek Siu Rui, Marcus Tan and Lucas Ngoo—worked on developing the Carousell mobile app after a year-long stint in Silicon Valley, putting the skills they acquired to good use by envisioning a peer-to-peer marketplace where NUS students could sell things to each other.
The app took off almost immediately—within three days of launch, it was ranked second among Singapore’s top free lifestyle apps.
Fast forward more than a decade, Carousell has grown into a full-fledged, multi-category classifieds and recommerce marketplace, where selling is as easy as snapping a photo, and buying is as seamless as starting a chat.
Its listings now span everything from cars and tech gadgets to fashion, furniture, and more.
In 2021, Carousell reached unicorn status, with a valuation of over US$1 billion. Today, the company has a leading presence across seven markets, including Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, serving tens of millions of monthly active users.
39. Kcuts (2013)
In the 2010s, the Singapore market was on the cusp of undergoing a retail K-transformation, with Korean concepts steadily going mainstream.
Riding on the rising K-beauty trend then, Singaporean trio Brian Ng, Bernard Ng, and Samuel Pei came up with the idea for Kcuts, a no-frills quick-cuts hair salon chain that offers affordable Korean-style haircuts in just 10 minutes.
To help achieve this vision, they hired a South Korean hair stylist to train their staff, who is now the company’s chief director-stylist.
In 2013, the trio opened the first Kcuts outlet in Fusionopolis, before going on to open a string of other outlets in heartland malls in the following years. Now, there are close to 80 Kcuts stores across Singapore.
Apart from Kcuts, Brian, Bernard and Samuel have also introduced other hair and beauty brands under KC Group.
This includes full-service hair salons Myeongdong Hair Studio and Kerluxe Hair Studio, Korean express facial service Kskin, as well as English gentlemen barbering concept Clippers Barber—brands that have become mainstays at neighbourhoods and office areas.
40. Secretlab (2014)
Alexander Ang and Alaric Choo are hardcore gamers—they first met each other at a local e-sports tournament when they were both playing StarCraft II semi-professionally.
Fast forward a few years, they’re now running multi-million dollar gaming chair company Secretlab. Born out of pure gamer frustration, the company was launched in 2014 while Ian Ang was still a university student.
The idea came about when he couldn’t find a chair that offered both comfort and quality for long gaming sessions. Most were either overpriced, poorly built, or lacked proper ergonomic support, leaving him with back and neck pain.
So, he teamed up with Alaric to build the ideal chair for gamers like themselves—and the rest is history. By 2021, Secretlab was producing over one million chairs annually, shipping to more than 60 countries.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Carousell/ Murdoch University Singapore/ Jackson Aw/ Secretlab
