Thai food delivery app Line Man Wongnai weighs IPO in Thailand, US in 2025

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. shouldn’t be 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’re centered on continued enterprise execution and restructuring as key priorities forward of the potential IPO, and we are going to proceed to evaluate our capital construction and financing wants, together with numerous fundraising choices,” Chinsupakul stated.

The corporate’s differentiators, in response to Chinsupakul, are its strategic partnerships with Line, and its understanding of buyer conduct, native retailers, supply personnel and the regulatory atmosphere.

Wongnai began off as a restaurant evaluation platform in 2010. In 2020, it merged with Line Man, which gives 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 most popular 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 aside from its rivals, in response to the CEO, is its skill to leverage Line’s huge consumer base, as lots of the app’s customers select to make funds by the linked Line funds app.

As we speak, the corporate gives all the pieces from meals and grocery supply and restaurant opinions, to a funds platform, POS for retailers, and ride-hailing — taking over rivals like Seize within the nation.

“Our historical past has confirmed that we’re nimble and have the power to execute strategic M&A. We all the time assess potential funding alternatives in pursuit of our strategic aims, which can embrace potential funding and/or M&A if it helps our longer-term objectives. We’re very open,” Chinsupakul stated.

The CEO stated the corporate is intent on rising its POS enterprise for retailers and the funds service.

“These two different companies are comparatively smaller than our meals supply enterprise [as we are a latecomer], so we need to develop them multiple-fold,” Chinsupakul stated. The corporate will proceed to spend money on rising its tech staff, significantly on the information and AI aspect, he added.

Line Man Wongnai faces robust 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.

At the moment, GrabFood leads the meals supply market in Thailand with a considerable 56% market share, intently 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 response to 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 may be ample room for progress. In February 2024, the penetration fee of on-line meals supply in Thailand stood at 27.14%, whereas that of grocery delivery was at 17.34%.

As for ride-hailing providers, Chinsupakul stated folks in Thailand nonetheless use on-demand taxi providers through apps, however the online-only market could possibly be greater. Experience-hailing apps’ consumer penetration out there is predicted to succeed in 19.8% this 12 months, per Statista.

When requested if the corporate goals to change into an excellent app like Seize and GoTo, Chinsupakul stated Line Man Wongnai is aiming larger. “A brilliant app is for the patron aspect solely, however Line Man Wongnai’s providers are for each customers and retailers. We’re extra of a mix of Meituan and WeChat Pay.”

The corporate needs to deal with the Thailand market at this level and isn’t contemplating increasing into different Southeast Asian nations earlier than going public.