Signature Market delays domestic IPO after profit decline

Signature Market’s first offline store in IOI City Mall. /Photo credit: IOI City Mall’s Facebook

Signature Market, a Kuala Lumpur-based ecommerce platform, has postponed its plan to go public locally due to a “decline in profitability,” CEO and co-founder Edwin Wang confirmed to Tech in Asia.

Founded as Signature Snack in 2014, the startup wants to make healthier food products more accessible and affordable in Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia.

According to filings with the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Signature Market posted a net profit of 4.2 million ringgit (US$929,000) in 2020, and its after-tax profit for 2021 was 10.4 million ringgit (US$2.3 million). The firm has yet to file its latest financials as its fiscal year ends on June 30.

However, Wang said that profit has been dropping in the past two years due to consumers shifting back to offline shopping. As such, the startup now focuses on growing its physical stores.

Yesterday, Signature Market opened its first mobile-enabled shop in IOI City Mall, a major shopping center in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative and judicial capital. Customers can purchase snacks from the company’s online platform and collect them at the store.

Signature Market last raised US$1 million in a Series A round in 2019 from Axiata Digital Innovation Fund and RHL Ventures.

Wang told business publication The Edge in 2021 that his company expected to list on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market the following year and would seek a transfer to the bourse’s Main Market in 2023.

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Currency converted from Malaysian ringgit to US dollar: US$1 = 4.52 ringgit.