Is Thailand big enough for Line Man Wongnai’s ambitions?

There’s no place like home for Line Man Wongnai, the Thai food delivery platform.

The company, backed by Japan-headquartered Line Corporation and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, has ambitions to become Thailand’s version of Indonesian giant GoTo Group. Line Man hopes to do this by dominating the local market, and food delivery is a key part of that strategy.

Indonesia is large enough that GoTo can largely focus on its home country alone. After all, it has achieved a market value of more than US$7 billion.

But can the same be said about Thailand?

The chart above shows that Line Man has made some progress in increasing its market share, growing it by four percentage points from 2020 to 2022. However, it still trails Grab, the Singapore-headquartered behemoth.

Then there’s the size of Thailand’s food delivery market: It’s almost US$1 billion smaller than Indonesia’s, as the chart below shows.

For an in-depth analysis of Line Man Wongnai’s moves to become the GoTo of Thailand, check out the full story here.

Credits

Graphics: Simon Huang

Editing: Eileen C. Ang