Life could get choppy for Sea after US$1 bil IPO

HONG KONG (Sept 25): Listed life can be rough. Sea, a Southeast Asian startup formerly known as Garena, has filed for a US initial public offering of up to US$1 billion ($1.35 billion). But larger deep-pocketed rivals are ramping up competition. An IPO at this stage could make the fight to come harder.

See: Sea, former Garena, files for NYSE IPO

Backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent, Sea is one of the region’s biggest homegrown startups. It was valued at US$3.8 billion in a 2016 fundraising. Similar to Tencent, it has built a wider internet platform, which spans retail, payments and messaging, around a profitable gaming business.

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