A look at Indonesia’s public tech firms amid a host of high-profile IPOs

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Indonesia is a melting pot of rich culture and traditions that attracts millions of tourists each year. From its delicacies to its natural wonders, there is so much on offer at the world’s largest island country that one would be forgiven for not paying attention to its ongoing tech revolution.

That all changed when GoTo Group unveiled its plan to go public on April 11. The IPO of Indonesia’s largest tech firm has got foreign, local, and retail investors chatting and put some much-deserved spotlight on its burgeoning tech space. In fact, it could just be the first of many high-profile tech firms in the archipelago to embrace the stock markets this year.

Traveloka, LinkAja, J&T Express, Tiket, Blibli, and Run System have all set their sights on a listing in 2022. With a host of new entrants in the offing, Tech in Asia charts out the landscape of Indonesian tech companies that are already trading on public markets and tracks how their stock prices have progressed since their debuts.

Today we look at:

• Indonesia’s public tech companies
• The twist in the tale of Elon Musk and Twitter
• Other newsy highlights such as the probe of India’s food delivery giants and the liquidation of a once well-funded Singapore startup

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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Indonesia’s tech melting pot

Image credit: Timmy Loen

At least seven tech companies in Southeast Asia’s largest economy are breaking the norm and eyeing IPOs in 2022. Countless tech firms across the world have either indefinitely delayed or pushed back their IPO plans in light of negative investor sentiment in the tech space, given the host of adverse macro factors currently at play. In fact, Indonesia’s own FinAccel waved the white flag and dropped its SPAC merger plans due to “unfavorable public market conditions.”

However, a quick analysis of the list of tech firms currently trading on the Indonesia Stock Exchange will show that over time, many of these companies have been richly rewarded by the stock market.

• Simply stupendous: DCI Indonesia’s IPO in 2021 was believed to be the world’s best-performing stock market debut after its shares surged over 10,000% on the listing. Furthermore, most of the companies on the list currently have market capitalizations that are more than double their IPO valuations.

• Sole loser: Every Indonesian tech company on the list has a valuation higher than that of when it debuted on public markets apart from a single outlier: Bukalapak. The ecommerce giant’s struggles have been no secret, with its share price down more than 60% since it listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in August 2021.

Musk and Twitter take things up a notch

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