The decision to forgo a listing on the Nasdaq, or what Avanda Investment Management’s co-founder Ng Kok Song calls the “World Cup” among exchanges, is a rare one, given that US exchanges have traditionally been preferred for their valuations and liquidity. Ng made the analogy during a July interview with The Edge Singapore.
Two-year goal to be profitable
This raises the question as to why MetaOptics, which identifies itself as an early-stage tech company, chose to list on SGX. After all, investors trading Singapore stocks are known to be more conservative and prefer steady earnings and dividends.
By most measures, MetaOptics, incorporated only in June 2021, is a start-up. It has yet to turn profitable. In FY2022, FY2023 and FY2024, the company reported losses of $1.1 million, $1.2 million and $2.3 million, respectively, given the “rapidly evolving and competitive” optical component industry.
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Thus far, the company’s revenue is not significant and it is loss-making. It recorded $79,440 in sales for FY2024 and net loss reached $2.34 million, widening from $1.23 million in losses recorded in the preceding FY2023. In the most recent 3MFY2025, it reported a revenue of $52,648 while reporting a net loss of $706,391.
Besides staff costs, MetaOptics has been spending a fair amount of resources on research and development. Between FY2022 and FY2024, it spent a total of $444,723 on R&D and in its 3MFY2025, another $33,434 was spent.
Mark Thng, MetaOptics’ executive chairman and CEO, acknowledges that many investors prefer to focus on revenue, profit and valuation. Nonetheless, he has in mind a strategy to capture the growth potential of this market and one that will be “positive” for shareholders.
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Thng has over 15 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, including six years at Heptagon, one of the main micro optics suppliers for a leading consumer electronics company. The company also has a two-year timeline to profitability. “I hope, at some point in time, Singapore investors can be like others and can see the big picture.”
As described in MetaOptics’ draft prospectus, “the unique flatness of [MetaOptics’] metalenses enables the correction of optical defects, delivering reasonable quality colour images.” These metalenses have wide-ranging applications, including smartphones, contactless 3D biometric modules, IoT devices, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) devices and head-up displays (HUDs) for planes and self-driving cars, as well as AR/VR (or augmented reality/virtual reality) devices. Thng adds that the metalenses can also be used for medical devices, given their size.
“We are one of the first companies to be able to produce metalens directly on the glass wafer using a semiconductor process for the 12-inch,” explains Aloysius Chua, deputy CEO of MetaOptics. “We work with visible light, which means the primary colours: Red, green and blue. We are also able to produce metalens working in near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths.”
So far, the company has received several inquiries for its products from “a lot of world-class customers” from industrial powerhouses South Korea, Germany and Japan, claims Thng. “I like what I’m doing here. Some people have said that we’re ‘Creative No. 2’, a high-tech, high-growth company,” he says, referring to Creative Technology, the original poster boy of homegrown tech companies.
While he stresses that it is not easy for a four-year-old company to list on the Catalist board, Thng candidly shares that seeking an IPO is driven by the need for additional working capital so that it can fulfil its orders while securing more to come its way. “Remaining private [would make it] tough to get cash flow,” says Thng.
That aside, Thng believes the company has tremendous potential. In a press statement released on July 30, Thng noted that the global metalens market is poised for “exponential growth” from 2024 to 2029, with a projected CAGR of around 74.8%, according to the Independent Market Report, cited in the company’s prospectus. The report adds that the market size is expected to reach US$493 million ($631.1 million) by 2029.
“We think this trend will pick up two years from now [and as such], I need to be ready to take these orders,” says Thng, reasoning that as a listed entity, the company can raise funds in bigger amounts.
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Thng is also confident that with a listing status, “more solid investors” will come knocking. At this point, the company is “quite happy” with its progress, which includes one cornerstone investor in Hong Kong.
Thus far, MetaOptics has been backed in various ways or forms by Enterprise Singapore and A*Star, including Accelerate Technologies, its commercialisation arm of A*Star, which holds a 5.2% stake. At present, the company already has 10 pre-IPO investors.
No smoke and mirrors
The SGX wasn’t the first exchange to approach the company. Thng was mulling over a US listing two years ago, but did not go ahead with the plan. “[The] sponsors said my revenue was too low [and asked] if I could multiply [this] by 100 times,” he says. “I’m an engineer, I’m not used to exaggeration. I want to do something that is real, something we think we can do … we drive what we want to do.”
When the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed up next, Thng also chose to remain in Singapore, seeking to establish the company regionally before going global. As it is, the company is already attending events like the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas, where it has attracted global interest.
Even though the company isn’t ruling out a Nasdaq listing down the road, Thng is focused on getting purchase orders over the next 12 to 24 months following its local listing. After that, the company can then proceed to “chase the dream”. But for now, the company’s priority is to get the fundamentals right. “If you don’t have orders, you can’t generate revenue, you don’t have profit and you can’t list. You have to feed yourself first and also pay for salaries and rental.”
Thng claims that MetaOptics is now three to four years ahead of its peers and intends to make the most of this lead. Even if there are copycats, their margins would already be lower as MetaOptics has already sunk in start-up costs, he says.
Even though MetaOptics has applied for patents and trademarks, Thng candidly shares that patents are not there to “protect”. Instead, the company should constantly innovate and not look back, given the fast-changing nature of technology. “You can’t stop it. [You have to] just run as fast as you can, then adapt, bring in profits and penetrate as many industries as you can.”
Given the R&D already spent, Thng adds that it should start commercialising its product and make a profit. “We are not a development house. We will not pour resources into R&D if it doesn’t translate to profits,” he says.
Thng also welcomes competition — the tougher the better. “Then you can penetrate the whole world. It is okay to have a few players; you want to have friendly competition,” he says, so the technology can gain widespread adoption quickly. This is especially so given how users tend to seek at least one, or even two, suppliers as part of their hedging strategy.
The CEO is also not overly concerned about the US-led tariffs, as most of MetaOptic’s materials are made in Singapore, including its metalenses. However, the company is looking to expand its production line with manufacturing bases in Taiwan and Malaysia.
On a more positive note, Thng is optimistic that the company is new, but there is a management bench that can help grow MetaOptics for years to come. “We have a committed and youthful team who are not here just for the salary but to advance metalens to the next level.”
