Honestbee, the Singapore grocery-delivery startup once valued as a regional rising star, collapsed into liquidation in July 2020 after co-founder and CEO Joel Sng was ousted over allegations he treated company funds as his own, leaving behind more than S$180 million in debt and hundreds of millions owed to staff, vendors and creditors.
Founded in 2015 by Sng, Isaac Tay and Jonathan Low, honestbee grew rapidly from grocery delivery into food delivery, laundry and parcel services across eight Asian markets including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan. In 2018 it opened habitat by honestbee, a sprawling tech-enabled supermarket and dining hall in Singapore billed as its crowning jewel. The company had raised about US$61 million from venture investors in Asia and the United States.
By early 2019, honestbee was burning through a reported US$6.5 million a month. In May 2019 the company halted food delivery and suspended laundry services in Singapore, shut or suspended operations across the region, and laid off about 10 per cent of global staff. On 1 May 2019, TechCrunch reported Sng had been fired; Sng called it fake news in a company-wide email, insisting he was not an abandon-ship person, before the company confirmed his departure the next day. Investor Brian Koo stepped in as interim CEO, later handing over to Ong Lay Ann.
The post-mortem was damning. Sng was accused of lavish spending on the company's dime, including a US$1.1 million property in Japan and rented apartments in several cities, all undisclosed to investors. He allegedly set up multiple shell companies and directed honestbee to pay them for products without disclosing the related-party transactions. Co-founder Isaac Tay had left in September 2018; Jonathan Low, the last founder, departed in July 2019.
Despite a four-month debt moratorium extension in September 2019, the rescue failed. The company was placed in liquidation in July 2020. Liquidator BDO later revealed honestbee still owed S$319.9 million to former staff, vendors and creditors, and had recovered only about S$720 from excess electrical-supply payments. In May 2023, Sng was made a bankrupt by the Singapore court.
Honestbee's spectacular flameout, alongside Zilingo and Terraform Labs, became a staple cautionary tale about founder governance in Southeast Asia's startup boom: investors who trusted charismatic founders without verifying their claims learnt an expensive lesson.
The unravelling was completed by the departure of the remaining founders: Isaac Tay left in September 2018 and Jonathan Low, the last founder standing, exited in July 2019. Brian Koo, who had stepped in as interim chief executive and later chairman, resigned in September 2019 while remaining a key investor. The company's four-month debt moratorium extension that same month bought time but no rescue, and liquidation followed in July 2020.