Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak plans to go public in late August with a goal of raising $800 million

Indonesian e-commerce company Bukalapak aims to raise up to $800 million in an initial public offering in August, two people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported .

Indonesia's fourth-largest e-commerce company Bukalapak plans to sell a 10% to 15% stake in the company, seeking a valuation of between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter , as investor interest in Southeast Asia's rapidly expanding technology sector grows.

A confidential listing prospectus has been submitted to the Indonesia Stock Exchange, one of the sources added. The offering could raise between $500 million and $800 million, depending on investor demand and market conditions.

Bukalapak, which said in 2019 that it was valued at more than $2.5 billion, declined to comment.

The 11-year-old startup has been focusing on expanding offline services and smaller cities in Indonesia , and claims to have more than 100 million users . Bukalapak is backed by a number of well-known investors, including Microsoft , Singapore's Zhu sovereign wealth fund, local media group Emtek, Standard Chartered Bank and South Korean IT giant Naver.

Bukalapak had originally planned to raise $300 million in a domestic listing and then seek a merger with a U.S. special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), but is now focusing only on the IPO.

The listing is scheduled to take place on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in mid-August , and Bukalapak ’s mid-year debut could make it Indonesia’s largest listing in 10 years and the largest startup in Indonesia ’s history.

The gross merchandise value of Indonesia's e-commerce sector exceeded $40 billion in 2020, according to a June report by tech consultancy Momentum Works, which estimated Bukalapak had a 7% market share.

As the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, is also one of the fastest growing online e-commerce markets in the world. Catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic , the competition landscape in Indonesia’s e-commerce market is intensifying, and the gap between players is widening.

It is also under this pressure that Bukalapak is actively preparing for an IPO, hoping to obtain more funds for development and market competition through listing.

Indonesia

IPO

E-commerce