SoftBank portfolio firms’ IPOs in 2021 to give Son another windfall

South Korean ecommerce firm Coupang, Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, and Indonesia’s Tokopedia are among the startups that are preparing for initial public offerings, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

In December 2020, Tokopedia hired Morgan Stanley and Citigroup as advisers to help accelerate its plan to go public. It was also considering a potential merger with Bridgetown Holdings, a blank-check company backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel.

More recently, it was reported that Tokopeida is in advanced talks about merging with local ride-hailer Gojek.

Either deal will value Tokopedia at up to US$10 billion, in which SoftBank owns about 25% shares.

Meanwhile, Coupang could go public in the second quarter of this year, which may value it at over US$30 billion, the sources said. SoftBank acquired a 37% stake in the ecommerce giant with a US$2.7 billion investment through its Vision Fund, most of it at a US$9 billion post-money valuation, one source added.

Didi Chuxing, which received over US$10 billion funding from SoftBank, is the “single biggest” investment in Vision Fund’s portfolio. The Japanese conglomerate owns about 20% of the Chinese startup, which is considering a listing in the US in the second half of this year, sources said.

Other SoftBank-backed companies, including the US real estate brokerage Compass, Indian online grocery Grofers, and Chinese AI company SenseTime Group have reportedly begun preparing for IPOs.

“Son has successfully shed the WeWork stigma and no one talks about that anymore. The story is now about further investment exits and prospects for privatization,” Justin Tang, head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore, told Bloomberg.