Secretlab is a Singaporean furniture company established by Ian Ang and Alaric Choo in 2014. It primarily designs and manufactures gaming chairs.
History
Secretlab was founded as a startup company in December 2014[6] by former professional esports players Ian Alexander Ang and Alaric Choo,[7] both of whom specialised in StarCraft II.[8] Its starting capital, which came from the two founders' savings, was S$50,000,[9] and went mostly into research and development.[10] The company's first product was a gaming chair, the Secretlab Throne V1,[9] that was launched in March 2015.[11] Two more chairs, the Throne V2 and the Omega, were released in October 2015.[12] In 2020, the company sold its millionth chair.[13]
In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for the company's chairs rose greatly, partly because of office workers who had to work from home.[4][14] In April 2021,[15] the company unveiled the Magnus, a magnetic metal desk.[16]
Facilities and partners
The company operates its corporate headquarters, a research and development facility, and an esports gaming arena along Braddell Road, Singapore. It also has a factory in China.[17] The company has partnered multiple times with organisers of official esports tournaments, where the partnership involves Secretlab providing chairs for the players.[18] In partnership with HBO, it introduced Game of Thrones-themed gaming chairs.[19]
Sales and finances
In August 2019, Heliconia Capital Management, a subsidiary of the Singaporean wealth fund Temasek Holdings, bought a minority stake in the company, causing its market capitalisation to reach a reported S$200–300 million.[20] Secretlab reported 2020 chair deliveries of "at least" 500,000. For the fiscal year 2020, the annual operating profit and revenue were an estimated S$70 million and S$350 million respectively.[4] In March 2021, Tech in Asia estimated that the company was "within striking distance of surpassing US$1 billion in valuation", thereby making it a unicorn.[4]
Reception of products
PC Gamer named Secretlab's Omega 2020 the best gaming chair of 2019, praising it for its adjustable armrest;[21] the same product was named best gaming chair in 2020 by GamesRadar+.[4][22]T3 called the Magnus the best gaming accessory of 2021,[23] while IGN listed the Titan Evo 2022 as the best gaming chair of 2022.[24] In 2020, there were complaints that the covering of certain chairs sometimes peeled away; Ang commented that this was due to unexpectedly high humidity and that it was being addressed.[5][9]
A 2022 University of California, Berkeley study compared the Secretlab Titan Evo, whose seat pan was made with cold cure foam, with a mesh chair. Subjects were made to perform various tasks in both chairs as part of an 8-hour blind test that spanned two days. The results indicated that supportability, seat pressure distribution, and "subjective performance on computer-based tasks" were better with the Titan Evo. However, the study also found "minimal differences in comfort, discomfort and pain when sitting on a fully adjustable mesh chair versus a fully adjustable foam chair."[25]
^Afterman, Melissa; Houghton, Frederick; Honan, Meg; Barr, Alan; Harris-Adamson, Carisa (2022). "Impact of Seat Material on Comfort, Preference and Performance During Computer-Based Tasks over a Prolonged Bout of Sitting". Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 66 (1): 863–867. doi:10.1177/1071181322661483.
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