Traveloka Gives Strong Signal to Floor on New York Stock Exchange This Year

Traveloka's plan to be listed on the stock exchange is getting clearer to read. In a joint interview Bloomberg, Traveloka Co-Founder & CEO Ferry Unardi said, after going through the most difficult times at the beginning of Covid-19, this year is the right time for the company to go public. He believes the company's condition is ready and the market is also considered to be welcoming.

He said Traveloka's business model already has a clear profit path. For now, their main business (travel and accommodation) is claimed to have made a profit, while continuing to explore other business models, such as fintech. One of Traveloka's focuses is presenting service paylater.

Implicitly this year preparation go public the company has scheduled. Ferry has said that Traveloka will first be listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE), then follow on the local exchange.

SPAC Mechanism likely to be an option because of efficiency in terms of time. He emphasized that companies like Traveloka need an agile approach, so they can immediately focus on executing post-business growth go public.

Previous source Bloomberg said that Traveloka had chosen JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a strategic partner to explore potential IPOs on the NYSE. Previously, a Reuters source said that several check companies were blank (blank check company) in discussions to assist with this process, including Provident Acquisition, COVA Acquisition, and Bridgetown Holdings.

SPAC is increasingly becoming the choice for startups on the NYSE floor. In simple terms, a blank check company that has been go public will conduct M&A on startups that want to be listed on the stock exchange, so that startups will automatically be listed on the stock exchange (direct listings). The process is faster, it can be in a matter of weeks, because there is no longer a complex financial reporting process like the traditional IPO stage.

Traveloka is a leading regional OTA platform that is already present in 6 Southeast Asian countries and Australia.

Will it be the best moment?

The pandemic had stopped the OTA business globally. Traveloka's transaction volume was seriously affected. Ferry claimed, the company started crawling again in July 2020 and now the transaction volume is starting to recover, touching the 50% pre-Covid-19 figure, bringing core business they become profitable.

Last year Traveloka also booked $250 million new funding or the equivalent of 3,6 trillion Rupiah. To get the injection of funds, Traveloka's valuation is estimated to drop to $2,75 billion (almost 40 trillion Rupiah). Action down round This was taken because the company's business was hit by Covid-19 and experienced a decline in service traction.

Several things were carried out as a measure to mitigate the impact due to Covid-19, one of which was by carrying out business and operational efficiencies. The company is reported to have lay off significant number of employees. Domestic travel also continues to be optimized to maximize sales potential amidst the easing after the massive social restrictions imposed in many regions.

An interesting question, after the business is hit and conditions are not entirely good (especially in the travel industry), is this the right time for an IPO? What is clear is that Traveloka's IPO plan has been revealed since before the pandemic. On an occasion at the end of 2019, Ferry mentions IPO startups will do in the next 2-3 years.

We had a chance to talk with Traveloka's early investors, Willson Cuaca, Managing Partner of East Ventures and EV Growth, related to the startup IPO process. He said that the pandemic would have no effect on the IPO plans. According to him, the current state of startups in Indonesia is very ready to do that.

"There is a pandemic or not, it's time for an IPO. For example, Tokopedia is 11 years old, Traveloka is 8 years old and so on. In addition, monetization has started clear, many have started profitable, much is getting clearer The roadmaphim, so it's just a matter of how to do the IPO. But because of the pandemic, the government issued a lot of stimulus. [..] So it makes the opportunity for IPO more accelerated,” explained Willson.

Apart from East Ventures and EV Growth, Traveloka is also supported by several other investors, such as GIC, Expedia Group, and Rocket Internet. The company's valuation is estimated at $3 billion and they want to be listed on an exchange with a market cap of $4-6 billion.

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