Sea, the Singapore-headquartered internet firm formerly known as Garena, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US that will allow several corporate backers to exit, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The company, which counts internet group Tencent, diversified conglomerate JG Summit Holdings and food producer Uni-President Enterprises as investors, plans to raise about $1bn in the IPO according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Founded in 2009, Sea provides a range of mobile-focused services including online gaming, e-commerce, video streaming and online financial services. It aims to float in early 2018 but no firm plans have yet been made.
News of the filing comes just over two weeks after Sea rebranded from Garena, at the same time disclosing $550m in funding from Uni-President subsidiary President International Development Corporation, JG Summit, financial services firm Cathay Financial, GDP Venture, Farallon Capital Management and Hillhouse Capital.
Sea has reportedly raised $1.05bn altogether, having secured $170m in a March 2016 round led by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional that valued it at $3.75bn.
Tencent, Singaporean government-owned firm Temasek, Global Digital Prima Venture, Mistletoe, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, General Atlantic and Keytone Ventures are also past investors, though Sea has not revealed details of their funding.