<div id="readability-page-1"><div>SUPERBANK’S initial public offering (IPO) this month delivered a much-needed boost to South-east Asia’s tech sector. The Emtek, Singtel and Grab-backed digital bank raised US$168 million in its oversubscribed market debut on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. Its share price also jumped 24 per cent to 790 rupiah and hit its daily limit on the first trading day.It was the second tech listing for Indonesia in 2025, following East Ventures-backed Fore Coffee’s market debut in April. The two companies are among a handful of tech startups in the region that followed through with their IPO plans this year.Some analysts predicted last year that South-east Asia’s exit market would see a turnaround in 2025. In some ways, it looks like it has.In the first 10 months of this year, the region logged 102 IPOs, fewer compared to the same period in 2024, according to a Deloitte report. Driven by companies in the real estate, financial services, and consumer sectors, these listings collectively raised US$5.6 billion, 53 per cent higher than the year before.Still, many startups shelved their listing plans this year, anticipating better market conditions later.One example is Philippines-based GCash. Ernest Cu, chairman of GCash operator Mynt, said in mid-2023 that the fintech company was “ripe” for an IPO, estimating that it would list in 2025.Then, last October, it pushed that back to the second half of 2026 because of unfavourable macroeconomic conditions and the Philippine Stock Exchange’s lacklustre performance.Strong volatility, driven by high interest rates and political risks, marred market sentiment this year, Roshan Behera, partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants, told Tech in Asia.“So, no matter how good of a company you are, it was just not a great context to get listed,” he added.<h2>Finding committed backers</h2>Tech in Asia data showed there are currently about 24 startups that have publicly announced their intentions or have been rumored to IPO. About a third of them are in fintech, while the others are in e-commerce or software as a service.Of these 24 companies, about nine have either formally made moves to go public or said they would do so in 2025 or 2026.Analysts believe Superbank’s IPO received a strong reception not only because of its strong financials – it was profitable in 2025 – but also because of its investor makeup.Emtek Group, an Indonesian media and telco conglomerate, owns about 30 per cent of Superbank, while Singtel and Grab own 20 per cent and 19 per cent stakes, respectively. South Korean tech giant Kakao owns another 10 per cent.Having committed backers that will “not only cash out their shares and exit” after the IPO is crucial for long-term share performance, Andre Benas, head of research at BCA Sekuritas, told Tech in Asia.He explained that in Superbank’s case, backers such as Emtek, which has a US$5 billion market capitalisation, can be counted on to stay invested in the company post-listing, maintaining its share price.Case in point: Six months after GoTo went public, its stock price plummeted to 58 per cent from the IPO price of 338 rupiah. This came after the tech giant’s early backers, including Alibaba and SoftBank, divested their shares following the lock-up period.<h2>Cleaning up the books</h2>Other analysts Tech in Asia spoke to say the era of growth at all costs is over, with profitability now a baseline for going public. This raises the bar for getting to an IPO.“The listings we have seen in 2025 have leaned toward larger, later-stage or profitable – or near-profitable – companies,” Tay Hwee Ling, capital markets services leader of Deloitte Southeast Asia, told Tech in Asia.For venture capital-backed startups, their prospects for going public will depend largely on whether their stock pricing aligns with the valuation expectations of the public, she added.“Investors usually place less emphasis on the number of years a startup has been profitable and focus more on whether its business model is economically sound,” Tay explained.Startups will also have to demonstrate that their growth is sustainable. For instance, healthtech firm UltraGreen.ai went public on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) earlier this month after three consecutive years of net profit.Several tech startups are now “quietly” cleaning their books and strengthening their corporate governance to prepare themselves for imminent scrutiny once they go public, said Farras Farhan, senior equity research analyst at Mirae Asset Sekuritas Indonesia.Farhan is optimistic that Superbank’s performance post-IPO could inspire other tech startups, including Traveloka, to move forward with their listing plans.He expects players such as Traveloka and Kopi Kenangan to join the next batch of tech firms in the country to list because of their strong financial positions.Traveloka reportedly turned cashflow positive in 2024. In the same year, its group net profit reached US$37.7 million, marking about a five times surge from 2023. Meanwhile, Kopi Kenangan said it turned Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) positive in Malaysia in 2024.In 2021, Traveloka tried to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (Spac). However, the firm forgoed it as interest in Spacs waned. US regulators heightened scrutiny over the listing method in the first quarter of that year.Still, other tech companies are holding out for the right time and investor mix.Cashback platform ShopBack, for instance, teased as early as 2021 that it was looking into going public. In September 2025, the firm told Tech in Asia it was in no rush to list.As a “growth company”, ShopBack doesn’t fit into the mold of the typical listed company in Singapore, Huanmin Huang, the company’s chief of staff, said at the time.He pointed out that almost every single stock on the Straits Times Index, which tracks the top 30 companies on SGX by market capitalisation, is a dividend play.“An interesting evolution would be a mindset shift among investors toward growth stocks,” Huang added. “I believe this is something that would require a lot of time.”<h2>Listing where the locals are</h2>While listing on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq continues to be the gold standard for many founders, analysts expect the next wave of tech listings to happen on stock exchanges closer to home.Stock exchanges in the region are already working double time to attract listings. To appeal to “quality growth-oriented companies”, SGX recently partnered with Nasdaq. The initiative, which is expected to go live in 2026, is aimed at establishing a dual-listing bridge that allows firms to list on both exchanges with one set of documents.The partnership looks promising on paper, but it’s unclear how it will translate to actual listings yet.For one, it requires companies to have a minimum valuation of S$2 billion. This is not “friendly for startups”, Mak Yuen Teen, a corporate governance advocate and an accounting professor at the National University of Singapore, told Tech in Asia.There are only about 45 companies in the city-state with a market capitalisation of US$1.5 billion or more. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq has more than 420.Mak notes that compared to Singapore, the US tends to have stricter regulations regarding corporate governance and listing rules, which could be challenging for local firms.Despite Superbank’s promising market debut, Redseer’s Behera believes it would take “more than one successful tech listing” to change the market sentiment on tech startups.But with interest rates now dropping and inflationary pressures easing, he sees signs that there could be more tech IPOs in the next 12 to 18 months.“The headwinds, the reasons why companies are not getting listed, are no longer as acute,” Behera says. “So we will slightly be more upbeat about the IPO potential of tech startups next year.” TECH IN ASIA</div></div>

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