Line Man Wongnai, an on-demand meals supply service in Thailand, is contemplating an preliminary public providing on a Thai alternate or the U.S. in 2025, the corporate’s CEO and co-founder, Yod Chinsupakul, stated in an unique interview with TechCrunch.
Line Man Wongnai has but to finalize the place it can launch the IPO, however a dual-listing in Thailand and the U.S. isn’t off the playing cards, Chinsupakul stated.
The corporate is backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC; Z Holdings, a three way partnership fashioned by SoftBank and South Korean web agency, Naver; and BRV Asia, amongst others. It has raised greater than $372 million in complete and has a valuation of greater than $1 billion.
“We are focused on continued business execution and restructuring as key priorities ahead of the potential IPO, and we will continue to assess our capital structure and financing needs, including various fundraising options,” Chinsupakul stated.
The corporate’s differentiators, in keeping with Chinsupakul, are its strategic partnerships with Line, and its understanding of buyer conduct, native retailers, supply personnel and the regulatory setting.
Wongnai began off as a restaurant evaluation platform in 2010. In 2020, it merged with Line Man, which provides meals and grocery supply, on-demand ride-hailing, and a messenger app. Then in 2023, the corporate acquired Rabbit Line Pay (RLP), an internet and offline fee platform, and FoodStory, a Thai level of sale (POS) startup. The corporate says the acquisitions strengthened its revenues and broadened its buyer base.
The merger with Line Man was a big milestone for Wongnai, as Line is Thailand’s hottest messaging app — utilized by greater than 90% of Thais, the app has over 50 million customers within the nation, Chinsupakul stated. What units the startup other than its rivals, in keeping with the CEO, is its means to leverage Line’s huge person base, as lots of the app’s customers select to make funds via the linked Line funds app.
At present, the corporate provides every part from meals and grocery supply and restaurant critiques, to a funds platform, POS for retailers, and ride-hailing — taking up rivals like Seize within the nation.
“Our history has proven that we are nimble and have the ability to execute strategic M&A. We always assess potential investment opportunities in pursuit of our strategic objectives, which may include potential investment and/or M&A if it supports our longer-term goals. We are very open,” Chinsupakul stated.
The CEO stated the corporate is intent on rising its POS enterprise for retailers and the funds service.
“Those two other businesses are relatively smaller than our food delivery business [as we are a latecomer], so we want to grow them multiple-fold,” Chinsupakul stated. The corporate will proceed to spend money on rising its tech staff, significantly on the information and AI facet, he added.
Line Man Wongnai faces powerful competitors within the meals supply house in Thailand from Singapore’s Seize and Indonesia’s GoTo, which have their very own tremendous apps and supply e-commerce providers, too.
Presently, GrabFood leads the meals supply market in Thailand with a considerable 56% market share, carefully adopted by Line Man Wongnai at 53%. Shopee is available in at No. 3, adopted by Siam Industrial Financial institution (SCB)’s Robinhood as of April 2023, in keeping with a report by Statista.
Room to develop in Thailand
Chinsupakul identified that the penetration of on-line meals and grocery supply is low in Thailand and there’s ample room for progress. In February 2024, the penetration price of on-line meals supply in Thailand stood at 27.14%, whereas that of grocery supply was at 17.34%.
As for ride-hailing providers, Chinsupakul stated folks in Thailand nonetheless use on-demand taxi providers by way of apps, however the online-only market might be greater. Journey-hailing apps’ person penetration available in the market is anticipated to achieve 19.8% this yr, per Statista.
When requested if the corporate goals to grow to be a brilliant app like Seize and GoTo, Chinsupakul stated Line Man Wongnai is aiming greater. “A super app is for the consumer side only, but Line Man Wongnai’s services are for both consumers and merchants. We are more of a combination of Meituan and WeChat Pay.”
The corporate desires to deal with the Thailand market at this level and isn’t contemplating increasing into different Southeast Asian nations earlier than going public.
