Sea, the Singapore-based internet company backed by corporates Tencent, JG Summit Holdings and Uni-President Enterprises, filed on Friday to raise up to $1bn in an initial public offering in the US.
Founded as Garena, Sea operates an online services offering that includes e-commerce platform Shopee, online financial services provider AirPay and Garena itself, which oversees the company’s digital entertainment services.
Sea, which operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, generated a $165m net loss in the first six months of 2017 from $195m in revenue, as it spent heavily on promotion and sales offers to help Shopee keep pace with foreign rivals.
The company has reportedly raised approximately $1.05bn in funding since it was founded in 2009, $550m of which came in a May 2017 round backed by food producer and retailer Uni-President Enterprises and diversified conglomerate JG Summit Holdings.
Financial services firm Cathay Financial also participated in the round, along with GDP Venture, Farallon Capital Management and Hillhouse Capital, while Uni-President’s investment came through its President International Development Corporation subsidiary.
The Malaysian state-owned Khazanah Nasional led Sea’s $170m series D round in March 2016 at a $3.75bn valuation. Sea’s other backers include internet group Tencent, Temasek, Global Digital Prima Venture, Mistletoe, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, General Atlantic and Keytone Ventures.
Tencent is also a key supplier for Sea, licensing its mobile games to Garena and earning near to $130m in royalties and licensing fees from the agreement since the start of 2014. Tencent and its subsidiaries hold 39.7% of Sea’s shares.
Blue Dolphins Venture, an investment vehicle for Sea founder, chairman and CEO Forrest Xiaodong Li, owns a 14.7% stake in the company. Hedge fund Hillhouse has issued $230m of convertible debt to Sea that will be converted to equity in the IPO.
Goldman Sachs (Asia), Morgan Stanley & Co International and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) have been appointed underwriters for the offering, which will take place on the New York Stock Exchange.