SEA's IPO noteworthy on many fronts

THIS month, Singapore-based Internet company SEA Ltd, formerly known as Garena, debuted a US$884 million initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) - a noteworthy development for Singapore, South-east Asia, and the tech industry on so many fronts.

First, SEA is said to be the first Singapore-based tech unicorn to go public in the United States. Founded in 2009 by China-born Singaporean Forrest Li, SEA was a pure gaming company before diversifying into e-commerce and digital payments. By 2016, it was valued at some US$3.75 billion, making it South-east Asia's most valuable tech startup. Today, its market cap is about US$4.58 billion.

SEA's IPO is also believed to be the largest ever by a South-east Asian tech company. Tech IPOs in the US out of South-east Asia have been rare and smaller in scale. Malaysian payments firm MOL, for instance, listed on Nasdaq in 2014, raising US$169 million. Notably, it got delisted in 2016 after failing to meet the minimum bid price of US$1 per share.