Recap: SEA’s biggest tech listings in 2021

Some compare a public listing to a wedding: The organizers put in hours of frantic preparations, and the event ends with a big celebration. Others equate it to an 18th birthday, marking the moment a young company is launched into the harsh realities of public validation.

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Southeast Asia’s startups are witnessing these milestones after the region saw a bumper year of stock listings, fueled by an influx of new retail investors and optimism for the region’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Investors in the region poured over US$4.9 billion into IPOs within the first half of 2021, hunting for higher returns in public markets.

Sea Group, parent firm of ecommerce giant Shopee, was the earliest to list in the region, raising US$884 million in its initial public offering in 2017.

This year, Grab enjoyed the limelight among Southeast Asian firms. The Singapore-based company, which kicked off as a ride-hailing app, officially listed on the Nasdaq in December and now operates across 465 cities in eight countries, offering food deliveries, payments, as well as insurance and investment products.

Grab co-founders ring the opening bell in Singapore as Grab goes public on the Nasdaq / Photo credit: Grab

Several big-ticket companies including Traveloka and GoTo Group (formed from the merger of Indonesia’s Gojek and Tokopedia) are also expected to list in the coming year.

Up north, Beijing’s tight scrutiny on its tech firms – on issues ranging from data security to a loophole long used by companies to list overseas – could also make listings of Southeast Asian firms a haven for investors looking to expand their portfolio in Asia.

The subdued Chinese tech landscape could help make the region’s IPO pipeline more geographically diverse, as India and Southeast Asia maintain a busy issuance calendar.

On the flip side, the blockbuster domestic listing of Indonesian ecommerce major Bukalapak, which saw a jump in share price that triggered the Indonesian stock exchange’s automatic rejection mechanism, has prompted other startups in the country like Blibli and Run System to abandon plans for overseas share offerings in favor of going local.

Here’s a list of some of Southeast Asia’s biggest tech listings in 2021: