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Putra Muskita · · 6 min readBehind Traveloka’s $300m loan payback puzzle
When Traveloka canceled its IPO via the SPAC route in 2021, it put the Indonesian travel tech unicorn in a tough position.
On one hand, it was still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, which kneecapped its business. On the other hand, committing to a SPAC merger – a model that quickly lost its luster – was a gamble in itself.
Three years later, Traveloka remains a private firm. The company, which declined to participate in this story, has not announced any concrete plans to pave the way back to the public market.
Photo credit: Traveloka
The current environment is not particularly friendly for Southeast Asian tech companies either.
But unlike many of its tech peers, Traveloka is actually profitable. According to Mark Bruny, CFO of Indonesian agritech firm Koltiva, this gives the company “the luxury of deciding if or when” to go public.
Has IPO prep started?
For Southeast Asia’s tech companies, going public has been a mixed bag. Even now, giants like Grab and GoTo are only in the positive EBITDA territory – not yet fully net profitable – and have faced plunging stock prices as a result.
For Traveloka, hitting that milestone prior to IPO “makes a huge difference,” Bruny points out.
In 2023, the travel tech unicorn clocked in US$10.2 million in net profit after tax, according to its latest financial statements filed in Singapore – a sharp reversal from the prior year’s loss of US$98.2 million.
See also: Org Chart: The people bringing Traveloka to life
While most of Traveloka’s revenue comes from flight and hotel bookings, financial services – which include TPaylater – is also showing promise, growing 2x compared to 2022.
Still, while dominant in its home country, Traveloka’s presence in other markets is less so. According to 2023 data from Staah, an enterprise platform for hospitality businesses, Traveloka ranked between fifth and seventh in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. (The data is based on confirmed hotel room nights, so it doesn’t include airline bookings.)
Traveloka’s virtual voucher/Image credit: Lorenzo Matthew for Traveloka
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Clearing debt early, entering new markets, and turning profitable – has the travel tech unicorn set the stage for an IPO?
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