Welcome to the Opening Bell 🔔! Delivered every Monday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and latest trends on Asia’s publicly listed tech companies. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by registering here.
Hello reader,
With GoTo Group’s ride-hailing, ecommerce, and fintech services combined under one umbrella, it’s hard not to compare it to its rivals in the region who have similar offerings. But as the company prepares for its imminent public debut, CEO Andre Soelistyo says the strength of the “business is that we are more than the sum of our parts.”
Numbers back his words: Within just the first seven months of 2021, GoTo cut its losses, caught up with its revenue from the previous year, and almost hit half of its adjusted EBITDA from 2020, as Tech in Asia’s analysis of the company’s numbers show.
Another one of GoTo’s attractions is Bank Jago. Our subscriber-only analysis describes how the Gojek-backed digibank is taking the fight to Sea and Indonesian online lender Akulaku and even posting a profit.
With the IPO, GoTo is set to raise almost 18 trillion rupiah (around US$1.3 billion), with an implied valuation range of US$26.4 billion to US$28.9 billion. Analysts that we spoke to in detail for our premium story were divided, but more on that later.
Another thing that caught our eye this past week was Sea Group (SE, NYSE) CEO Forrest Li’s 900-word memo to employees trying to pacify them after the firm lost US$127 billion in market value since November. The note comes on the heels of the company losing around three-quarters of its valuation in five months.
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Sea’s ecommerce arm, Shopee, has its fair share of troubles, and Sea cut its year-on-year booking guidance for Garena, citing “unanticipated government actions” in India.
Li told employees not to fear in the company-wide memo, saying “We are in a strong position internally… This is short-term pain that we have to endure to truly maximize our long-term potential.”
To borrow from George RR Martin, author of the Games of Thrones saga, “words are wind.” One can’t put much stock in them.
A continued show of transparency following that 900-word memo could go a long way for Sea’s employees and investors alike. That said, as this week’s newsletter documents, words can’t do the trick for Chinese stocks, which could benefit from fast-changing market conditions but still have a lot to overcome.
— Nikita
4 Stocks to watch
Hot stocks, earnings reports, restructuring, activist investor pressure, and more. We feature the stocks that are likely to make big moves during the week.
3 Market whispers
2 Eye-popping facts 👀
The 1 you didn’t see coming
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
