Our thoughts on Grab going public tonight

This article was originally published in Chinese, translated into English by Momentum Works team. 

As expected, Grab and Altimeter Growth Corp (AGC) shareholders have approved the business combination. On the AGC side, it is almost unanimous – only 0.02% of the shares have been redeemed.

Grab will become a public company tonight (Asia timezone), and the bell ringing will take place in Singapore. After the business combination, Grab will receive US$4.5 billion of proceeds, putting its net cash position to be above $7 billion. In other words, the $40 billion total de-SPAC valuation includes an enterprise value of US$33 billion.

Today, everyone in Southeast Asia’s tech circle that we spoke to has been discussing about Grab listing. While people have differing opinions on the valuation – they all agree it is a defining moment for the region’s tech ecosystem.

We have analyses Grab’s Q1, Q2, and Q3 performance, so here we will not bore you with details. Just a quick summary of four business areas:

1. Mobility segment is definitely leading (by a wide margin) in Southeast Asia, and has a positive EBITDA margin. Investors will be watching whether Grab can further improve the margins, especially during the post pandemic recovery phase;
2. Food and deliveries business in general is facing competition from Foodpanda in countries other than Indonesia and Vietnam; but frankly we do not think Grab should worry too much about Foodpanda, but should keep an eye on Shopee, which has a food delivery business lurking on the horizon;
3. The financial services business needs a boost – let’s see if Alex Hungate, Grab’s incoming COO, can light the fire;
4. Ads and enterprise businesses are small, but has some good potential;

As a regional platform, Grab has its advantages over Indonesia-focused Gojek, similar to Shopee over Tokopedia.

How will the stock price perform tonight? We are not experts of public markets, but we will watch it closely together with the ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

And finally, big congratulations to many of our friends at Grab, who are achieving financial freedom tonight. Do remember to invest more in good entrepreneurs in the region!