Grab, the Malaysian born Southeast Asian unicorn had a difficult first day on Wall Street falling nearly 21% on Thursday after it began trading on the Nasdaq in New York.
It is also the most significant US market debut by a Southeast Asian company.
Grab went public by combining with a SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company raising $4.5 billion. It was valued at roughly $40 billion.
According to Refinitiv statistics, the previous record was held by an Indonesian satellite business, which raised about $1.2 billion in 1994.
Grab joined with Altimeter Growth Corp (AGC), a SPAC founded by Altimeter Capital, a US investment firm, as part of the agreement. The company’s shares, now trading under the ticker code “GRAB,” began over 20% higher on Thursday than Altimeter’s closing price the day before.
“This is Southeast Asia’s time to shine, and we hope that our entrance into the global public market will help bring greater attention to the tremendous opportunity here in the region,” Grab group CEO Anthony Tan said in a statement.
Forbes says the fresh funding will come in handy as Grab competes with Indonesian tech giant GoTo and Shopee owner Sea Group for dominance in Southeast Asia’s booming digital economies.
Founded in 2012 as a taxi booking app, Grab has now expanded its business to include ride-hailing, food deliveries, and digital financial services. It has almost 400 cities in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
