Emerging market companies leapfrogging western rivals

From Pony.ai launching a robo-taxi service during a Shanghai storm to E Ink revolutionising the way supermarkets label their shelves – emerging market companies are in many cases leapfrogging western counterparts. In this episode, investment manager Alice Stretch reveals to host Leo Kelion some of the most disruptive companies innovating at speed in Asia and Latin America. Background: Alice Stretch is an investment manager in Baillie Gifford’s Emerging Markets Equity Team. In this conversation, recorded as part of our annual Disruption Week briefings, she explores some of the growth companies in her portfolios turning constraints to their advantage and reducing friction in their customers’ lives. Companies discussed include: PolicyBazaar – the Indian insurance platform making it easier for people to protect themselves against life’s financial shocks. Nubank – the Brazilian digital lender extending access to banking and credit. Meituan – the food delivery and local services app extending its reach beyond China. MercadoLibre – the Latin American ecommerce and fintech giant expanding into advertising. Mobile World – the Vietnamese conglomerate that has expanded from mobile phones to competitively priced groceries. Sea Ltd – the Singaporean gaming, shopping and fintech group eyeing the possibilities of agentic AI. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) – the world’s leading chip manufacturer. E Ink – the Taiwanese e-paper pioneer building on its ebook success to provide supermarkets with updateable price tags and marketers with low-power digital billboards. Pony.ai – the first driverless car company to offer a robo-taxi service in four of China’s most populous cities. Resources: Disruption Week Emerging markets: how we do what we do Emerging markets: from imitators to innovators Emerging markets: the next engines of growth (podcast) Emerging markets in 2050: growth in a changing world Imec Short Briefings on Long Term Thinking hub Companies mentioned include: Amazon ByteDance Chroma E Ink MercadoLibre Mobile World Meituan Nubank NVIDIA PolicyBazaar Pony.ai Sea Ltd Stellantis TSMC Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction – Pony.ai takes to Shanghai’s roads 02:00 The imitators become the innovators 05:10 How PolicyBazaar benefits from not being locked into a legacy system 07:10 Nubank: reducing friction while expanding access to banking and credit 09:25 MercadoLibre’s multi-act expansion leads it to advertising technology 10:25 Mobile World’s move from selling handsets to groceries 11:50 Ways Sea Ltd developed capabilities while operating under constraints 13:45 Sea CEO Forrest Li’s ability to adapt and pivot 15:25 Taking the long-term view and a generalist approach 17:30 Studying the semiconductor industry with the help of Imec and TSMC 19:45 Investing in Chroma and E Ink in Taiwan 21:10 Walmart and other supermarkets adopt E Ink’s updateable price labels 22:45 The case for investing in Pony.ai as a long-term growth investor 24:10 Pony.ai’s cost advantage and international partnerships 25:55 Taking macroeconomic and geopolitical risk into account 27:15 Putting deep knowledge and research to our clients’ advantage

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