Can SEA open IPO floodgates to end global drought?

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Hello reader,

There are plenty of issues going against present-day equity investors. While heightened geopolitical tensions, soaring inflation, aggressive interest rates hikes, and supply chain constraints brought a bull run to a screeching halt, recent crypto and banking troubles have now cast a recessionary spell.

Further, these have poured cold water over a once-fiery IPO market, which is countless billions off its record-breaking 2021. But that hasn’t stopped a number of market debuts from simmering underneath the surface, especially in Southeast Asia.

In fact, Indonesia, the region’s largest economy, has already set the pace to beat. The archipelago was the most active country in terms of IPOs in the first quarter of this year, seeing 30 listings that raised US$828 million, according to a report by Ernst & Young.

The Singapore Exchange could soon get in on the act too. Cancer diagnostics startup Mirxes is considering potentially the largest IPO on the city-state’s bourse in over a year, seeking to raise between US$100 million and US$200 million in its home country.

The good news doesn’t end there: DigiAsia Bios, an Indonesian embedded finance firm, is set to list on US markets in the second quarter of the year after striking a SPAC deal with StoneBridge Acquisition (APAC, NDAQ) at a pre-money equity valuation of US$500 million in January.

Today’s featured piece charts how the Mastercard-backed (MA, NYSE) startup rose to prominence only six years after its inception, and also dives deeper into how it plans to utilize its IPO proceeds to swiftly rise to the top of the Southeast Asian markets.

Further, the premium story assesses the sustainability of DigiAsia’s potentially billion-dollar businesses – which is run by just around 100 employees – and sheds light on the rising significance of embedded financial products.

— Shravanth

THE BIG STORY

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Mastercard-backed fintech firm DigiAsia on track for US listing at $500m valuation
The Indonesian embedded finance pioneer aims to quickly expand into Southeast Asian markets after going public.

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