Line Man Wongnai, an on-demand meals supply service in Thailand, is contemplating an preliminary public providing on a Thai alternate or in the USA in 2025, the corporate’s CEO and co-founder Yod Chinsupakul stated in an unique interview with TechCrunch.
Line Meng Wong Nai The situation of the IPO has but to be determined, however a twin itemizing in Thailand and the USA is just not dominated out, Chinsupakul stated.
The corporate is backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC; Z Holdings, a three way partnership between SoftBank and South Korean web firm Naver; and BRV Asia, amongst others. In complete, the corporate has raised over $372 million and has a valuation of over $1 billion.
“We’re centered on persevering with to function our enterprise and restructuring as key priorities forward of a possible IPO, and we are going to proceed to guage our capital construction and funding wants, together with varied fundraising choices,” Chinsupakul stated.
Based on Chinsupakula, the corporate’s hallmarks embrace its strategic partnership with Line, in addition to its understanding of buyer conduct, native retailers, supply personnel and the regulatory atmosphere.
Wongnai started as a restaurant assessment platform in 2010. In 2020, she teamed up with Line man, which gives meals and grocery supply, on-demand car-hailing and a messaging app. Then in 2023 the corporate acquired Rabbit Line Charge (RLP)on-line and offline cost platform, in addition to FoodStory, a Thai point-of-sale (POS) startup. The corporate says the acquisitions boosted its income and expanded its buyer base.
The merger with Line Man was a major milestone for Wongnai as Line is the most well-liked messaging app in Thailand. “Greater than 90% of Thais use it, and the app has greater than 50 million customers within the nation,” Chinsupakul stated. Based on the CEO, what units the startup other than its opponents is that it is ready to leverage Line’s large consumer base, as many app customers desire to make funds by the related Line cost app.
At present, the corporate gives the whole lot from meals and grocery supply and restaurant evaluations to a cost platform, POS terminals for retailers and ride-hailing providers, competing with rivals like Seize within the nation.
“Our historical past has confirmed that we’re versatile and able to pursuing strategic mergers and acquisitions. We all the time consider potential funding alternatives to attain our strategic targets, which can embrace potential investments and/or mergers and acquisitions if in step with our long-term targets. We’re very open,” Chinsupakul stated.
The CEO stated the corporate intends to develop its POS enterprise for retailers and cost providers.
“These different two companies are comparatively smaller than our meals supply enterprise. [as we are a latecomer], so we need to develop them a number of occasions,” Chinsupakul stated. The corporate will proceed to put money into the event of its technical staff, particularly within the areas of knowledge and synthetic intelligence, he added.
Line Man Wongnai faces stiff competitors in Thailand’s meals supply enterprise from Singapore’s Seize and Indonesia’s GoTo, which have their very own tremendous apps and supply e-commerce providers.
GrabFood at present leads the meals supply market in Thailand with a 56% market share, adopted by Line Man Wongnai with a 53% share. Shopee ranks third, adopted by Robinhood Siam Industrial Financial institution (SCB) as of April 2023, in accordance with Statisticians report.
There may be room to develop in Thailand
Chinsupakul famous that the penetration of on-line meals and grocery supply in Thailand is low and there’s a lot of room for development. In February 2024, Thailand’s on-line meals supply penetration fee was 27.14%, whereas Thailand’s on-line meals supply penetration fee was 27.14%. grocery supply accounted for 17.34%.
Relating to taxi providers, Chinsupakul stated individuals in Thailand nonetheless use on-demand taxi providers by apps, however the marketplace for online-only providers could also be bigger. The market penetration of taxi reserving app customers is anticipated to succeed in 19.8% this 12 months. Statistics.
When requested if the corporate goals to turn out to be a brilliant app like Seize and GoTo, Chinsupakul stated Line Man Wongnai is aiming larger. “The tremendous app is just for shoppers, however Line Man Wongnai’s providers are for each shoppers and retailers. We’re extra like a mixture of Meituan and WeChat Pay.”
For now, the corporate desires to deal with the Thai market and isn’t contemplating increasing to different Southeast Asian nations earlier than going public.