Singapore-based Sea Ltd and Razer Inc’s IPOs last year on the New York Stock Exchange and Hong Kong exchange, respectively, marked a milestone for the region’s fledgling startup ecosystem. As other unicorns in the region mull a potential listing, it is time to look at how Sea and Razer have performed in the public markets.
Let’s look at Sea Ltd first
Sea Ltd had a reasonably good third quarter with total GAAP revenues rising 117.8 per cent to $204.92 million from $94.09 million a year earlier. While both GAAP and adjusted non-GAPP net losses worsened during the third quarter, sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of Gross Merchandise Value (SG&A/GMV) fell from a high of 8-9 per cent last year to 5.7 per cent during the third quarter of 2018. This metric is specific to Sea’s e-commerce business called Shopee where its marketplace revenue rose 34.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) as more sellers use its suite of advertising and value-added services.
