David Li of GreaterHeat Aims for Southeast Asia and Beyond

Li intends to conduct an IPO on Nasdaq in 2024, contingent upon achieving total revenue of US$50 million for 2023.

Image courtesy of GreaterHeat

David Li, the chairman and CEO of GreaterHeat Pte Ltd, a Singaporean Web3 infrastructure provider, would agree that 2021 was a "annus horribilis." Immediately preceding this, the Chinese Internet sector had significant growth, driven by an abundant pool of adept young technology entrepreneurs, many of whom emulated Jack Ma, thriving in China's advantageous uncontrolled economic landscape. The government's slogan during that period was "Develop first, control later!" Consequently, China's Internet sector experienced unprecedented growth.

Subsequently, in 2021, the favorable period concluded abruptly. Unexpectedly and abruptly, the Chinese government terminated Ant Finance's IPO. Simultaneously, technology firms such as Alibaba, Meituan, and Baidu faced severe governmental repression. Chinese Internet companies terminated approximately 20-30 percent of their workforce, and numerous prospective investments were rescinded. The Chinese government had its own motivations for its actions, but for numerous entrepreneurs like David Li, it signified that China had, for the moment, reached a pivotal point in terms of technological advancement. The grim reality was that no company within the industry remaining in China would be capable of progressing.

This year was nearly disastrous for Li. At the age of 19, while still a computer science student at a university in Henan Province, China, he aspired to become an entrepreneur. At that time, he established two requirements for the type of firm he would develop: firstly, it would be an innovative enterprise, and secondly, he must serve as the provider of the technology that would drive that enterprise. His choice to pursue electronics and computer science stemmed from the recognition that the advancement of computer technology is the most rapid in human history, with minimal obstacles to entrance aside from technical expertise.

Li saw that in China, conventional non-state-owned sectors like real estate development and automobile manufacturing necessitated hundreds of millions of RMB in investment. Many nascent entrepreneurs lack the first capital to commence such ventures. The emerging computer and Internet-based enterprises, in contrast, presented no entrance barriers and were straightforward to initiate, provided one possessed the requisite technical skills. This realization prompted Li to aspire to become not only a software entrepreneur but also an Internet knowledge-based "hero."

He commenced establishing his foundation. While attending university, he acquired a computer technology certificate and thereafter served as an assistant to a professor, instructing new students on computers and the Internet. This constituted excellent training. Prior to graduation, he had obtained a job offer at Shanghai Zhan Xun as an IT engineer, tasked with delivering technical assistance for prominent smartphone companies including Lenovo, Samsung, and ZTE. His involvement with cellphones was, as he articulates, “an eye-opening experience,” yet his employment did not align with his aspirations; he remained determined to establish his own enterprise and realize his aim of becoming an entrepreneur, prompting his departure from the company after one year.

Li returned to Zhengzhou to establish his inaugural enterprise in Internet software: Henan Creative Republic Network Technology Co., Ltd. At this juncture, fate interfered once more as the Internet underwent a paradigm change from fixed computer-based access to mobile connectivity. This transition necessitated a fundamentally altered perspective among the stakeholders; currently, data has started to surface as the pivotal element, particularly about the identity of mobile phone users, their locations, and the connections among individuals inside mobile peer and friend networks.

The preliminary versions of this novel business model have evolved into essential components of the mobile era—online to offline (O2O) enterprises, such as food ordering and delivery applications, are exclusively conducted via mobile devices. This was transformative as numerous conventional enterprises, such as food and beverage, could initially migrate to the Internet and subsequently to a mobile application, utilizing technology to facilitate expansion and acquire new market share. Early pioneers in this emerging industry saw rapid and substantial accomplishments. Li's initial financial success occurred in 2012, yielding a profit of 1 million RMB within a single year. Believing that business was effortless, he became arrogant and too confident, leading to the overexpansion of his enterprise.

In 2014, his operations incurred losses equivalent to the profits of the preceding two years. Other O2O technology platforms, such as Meituan and Taobao, which received substantial subsidies from prominent investors, successfully captured his market share. The positive aspect was that Li successfully sold his business to other corporations; nonetheless, he had learned a valuable lesson: in his youth and naiveté, Li believed he could compete with them on an uneven playing field. These companies reduced their prices to 10 percent of Li's in order to compete and awaited the collapse of their rivals.

During this period, Li was also deceived by other companies due to his excessive focus on technological problem-solving and insufficient knowledge in the complexities of commercial strategy. Li had entered into a deal for these other companies to utilize his company's technology as their investment in a new venture, but ultimately, he was deceived. This prompted Li to recognize that his prior mindset of self-reliance and independence in business was not necessarily the optimal method to conducting company. He recognized that the entire company ecosystem is interconnected and that good collaboration with other partners is essential. He could neither acquire support nor guidance from his parents, as they adhered to the conventional belief that securing a "good, stable job" constituted the optimal approach to life.

Notwithstanding the fluctuations and prospective benefits, Li was unwilling to limit himself to the realm of mobile applications. He possessed the foresight, as early as 2012, to recognize that the future was in the burgeoning sector of digital currencies and cryptocurrencies. In 2018, Li relocated his team from Zhengzhou to Hangzhou. He conceived the notion to transition his enterprise from mobile to blockchain-integrated solutions. His new organization, DigiCode, would provide businesses and individuals solutions centered on blockchain, an entirely novel and transformative end-to-end distributed ledger system that garnered widespread attention. Li relocated his employees to offices neighboring Alibaba’s office space to inspire himself and his team.

At that time, Hangzhou was considered "China's Silicon Valley," particularly the Yuhang District, known as "Data Zhejiang," which houses Yuhang Technology City, where hundreds of technology businesses are concentrated in an area one-fifth the size of Singapore. Yuhang possessed a plethora of seasoned technological expertise, facilitated by the region's progressive regulatory environment. In Hangzhou, Li endeavored to employ the new technology to address quotidian challenges. His enterprise witnessed the most rapid expansion in Hangzhou, coinciding with the swift development of cloud infrastructure and the surge in data storage and processing capabilities. DigiCode underwent a ten-fold increase annually from 2018 to 2020.

In 2021, China implemented a significant crackdown on the nation's swiftly growing Internet-based enterprises. Li states, “Our company, despite its success, remains in its infancy and requires further development and progression.” We arrived at the startling conclusion that remaining in China would hinder our desired development. Li returned to the conceptual phase. If China's Internet business technology were more advanced and superior to that of other nations, would it be feasible to successfully transfer this technological advantage to other countries and regions? The Southeast Asia region has around 600 million individuals, representing a substantial sustainable consumer market. Given a culture somewhat akin to that of China and populations generally amenable to Chinese knowledge and investment, relocating his business to Southeast Asia could be a viable answer, while any shift to the USA or Europe was regrettably infeasible due to geopolitical considerations.

In 2021, Li established GreaterHeat Pte Ltd in Singapore, which functions as the headquarters for its global operations. He diligently commenced the recruitment of personnel and the acquisition of office space, all within a six-month period. In 2022, Li was prepared to enter the Southeast Asian market in earnest. This recent phase of Li's entrepreneurial venture has developed into a prominent Web3 mining technology enterprise. Li oversees a global team of more than 100 blockchain technologists and cryptographers at GreaterHeat, delivering compliant, stable, and cost-effective cryptocurrency mining technology services and related companies to clients in SEA, EMEA, and other countries.

“Crypto mining is a highly stable enterprise,” asserts Li, “akin to numerous conventional businesses today.” Consequently, GreaterHeat is entirely self-financed and currently seeks no external financing. Li expresses optimism over the prospects of Web3 infrastructure: “If Web3, which centers on crypto data analogous to Web2's focus on cryptocurrency, evolves favorably, then Filecoin will also prosper.” Filecoin is now utilized by various public entities, such as Internet Archives, foundations, New York transit data, and meteorological data, among others.

Filecoin serves as the data storage layer of Web3 and is the largest decentralized storage network globally. The system operates without restrictions, allowing Storage Providers (SPs) to deliver data storage services to consumers in exchange for compensation in the network's native token, Filecoin. GreaterHeat ranks in the top three in the Filecoin Network and possesses 3.5 million Filecoins.

GreaterHeat has achieved the issuance of over 70 patents by the National Copyright Administration of the People's Republic of China. The emphasis of these patented advancements has been on blockchain technology, computation, and data storage solutions. GreaterHeat has achieved a tenfold yearly increase for three consecutive years from 2018 to 2021.

Li acknowledges that moving from China's Silicon Valley to Singapore was the correct choice, despite considering other Southeast Asian nations. “Singapore is highly conducive for young entrepreneurs, particularly in emerging industries.” Web3 is an emerging industry replete with prospects, necessitating a politically secure atmosphere, a sophisticated corporate framework, and a setting conducive for entrepreneurs to concentrate on their goods and client services. Li notes that numerous enterprises that have stayed in China continue to exhibit reluctance. These mostly consist of enterprises engaged in exchanges, wallets, ICO cryptocurrencies, GameFi, and the metaverse.

David Li's future aspirations for GreaterHeat are lofty, having successfully transitioned from one country to another and achieved his start-up objectives in accordance with all business goals. From January to August 2022, GreaterHeat generated S$20 million in revenue and aims to attain S$30 million by year-end. This money primarily originates from South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand and Malaysia. Li intends to conduct an IPO on Nasdaq in 2024, contingent upon achieving total revenue of US$50 million for 2023. We seek to list on Nasdaq due to the presence of comparable mining firms already listed there. It indicates that the United States is amicable towards mining enterprises such as ours.