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Hi readers,
Sometimes, data points make you do a double – or triple – take.
Three listed Indonesian tech giants reported their Q1 2023 results over two days at the end of last month, and one topic investors – and readers – want to know more about is how much cash the companies have, and how they’re spending it.
I had a rough sense of the numbers for GoTo and Bukalapak – around US$1.8 billion and US$1.4 billion respectively – from previous articles I had written on them. However, Blibli’s cash on hand surprised me – US$133 million.
I checked this multiple times and thought that I may have made a mistake with the conversion from billions of Indonesian rupiah to US dollars – dealing with such large numbers is always tricky!
Given that Blibli’s most recent quarter saw a negative EBITDA of US$56 million, there seems to be little room for error. That said, EBITDA isn’t a precise proxy for cash flow, and the company’s CFO asserted that the firm’s cash, along with available credit facilities, “should be sufficient” for Blibli to carry out its business strategies.
Read about this – and more – in my article covering the Indonesian tech companies’ most recent quarterly results!
— Simon Huang, journalist at Tech in Asia
Top stories this week
Image credit: Timmy Loen
1️. Why GoTo’s shares jumped following Q1 results, while Bukalapak and Blibli are flat
Indonesia’s tech companies are inching closer to profitability, although investors still have them on a tight leash.
2. Global investment downturn? Not so much in Southeast Asia
Despite seeing less investment than the year prior, 2022 was still one of the region’s strongest years on record.
3. SEA tech ecosystem report
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4. Mapping SEA’s food tech players: startups seize opportunities beyond food delivery
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