Overview: Indonesian start-ups to hold IPO

More Indonesian start-ups are planning to go public. This trend might be kickstarted by Bukalapak which went public with a bang.

Furniture start-up company Dekoruma on 25 August announced that it just raised $15 million or Rp216.8 billion in a series C1 funding round. Some of the investors are Nexter Ventures by SCG Cement-Building Materials, KTB Network, as well as investors from the previous round: Global Digital Niaga (Blibli), OCBC NISP Ventura and Foundamental. The company said it focuses on recording a positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in 2022 and plans to go public by 2023.

Djarum Group’s e-commerce platform Blibli on 26 August announced a plan to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in the beginning of 2022. Partnering with Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley, Blibli is exploring the possibilities for their stock debut. However, it is still too early to learn about the funding target.

The groundbreaking Indonesian joint venture  GoTo--formed by Gojek and Tokopedia--is also rumoured to plan an IPO soon. Patrick Walujo, the founder and managing partner of Northstar, one of GoTo's investors, was reluctant to drop any hint on when GoTo will enter the stock exchange.

However, it is not as if the company is lacking in capital, considering that it invests in several issuers, including Matahari Putra Prima, Blue Bird and Bank Jago.

Last but not least, Indonesian logistics start-up company J&T on 30 August made a last minute change to its IPO plan, shifting its planned US listing to Hong Kong. The change was made following an announcement by the Chinese regulators that they will supervise Chinese companies listing overseas.

Even though J&T is an Indonesian company, many of its investors are based in China and it also operates in China. The change in J&T's IPO plan is a countermeasure against the potential scrutiny by Beijing. 

J&T seeks to raise $1 million or about Rp1,4 billion from the IPO. The logistics company partners with Bank of America, China International Capital and Morgan Stanley to make its stock market debut. However, as preparations for the listing are still at an early stage, there is still no fixed funding target and IPO schedule.