Indonesian Startup GoTo is World’s Worst Large Size Tech IPO This Year

Dec 2, 2022

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(Bloomberg) -- GoTo Group’s post-IPO stock selloff makes it the worst performer among 11 tech and internet companies that raised more than $500 million in inaugural share sales this year.

Shares of the Indonesian startup provider of food delivery services to fintech solutions are falling for a 10th straight session, taking losses since listing to 61%. The recent slide was triggered by fears that backers such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp. would sell stakes when a lock-up period ended this week. The stock has tumbled by the most allowed by the exchange every day this week.

Several tech companies that listed over the past 18 months, such as Zomato Ltd. in India and SenseTime Group Inc. in Hong Kong, saw their shares plunge once early investors were allowed to sell stakes following their initial public offerings.

Other recent big tech listings from Southeast Asia have also tumbled amid a slump in peers shares globally. Competitor Grab Holdings Ltd.’s stock has lost 65% since its listing in New York following the merger with a special purpose acquisition company one year ago. Online marketplace PT Bukalapak.com is down 67% since its Jakarta debut in Aug. 2021.   

GoTo officers planned to facilitate a controlled stake sale by pre-IPO backers, attempting to avoid a plunge in price, but the proposal didn’t come to fruition. GoTo shareholders that had considered selling decided not to proceed at this time, GoTo said on Nov. 30.

Indonesia’s largest tech company has lost about $22 billion in market capitalization from a peak reached in June. The company’s IPO raised $1.1 billion and the shares soared 13% in their first day of trade in April, following what was at the time one of the world’s largest IPOs for the year.

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