GIC-backed Thai startup weighs IPO in Hong Kong or New York

[BANGKOK] Line Man Wongnai, a Thai technology startup backed by Singapore’s GIC, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) abroad to tap stronger investor demand and secure a higher valuation, a move that would signal a lack of confidence in the local stock market.

The operator of food delivery, ride-hailing and e-payment services is exploring an IPO in Hong Kong and the US after postponing a domestic share sale, chief executive officer Yod Chinsupakul said. The company expects to make a final decision by the end of June, he said.

The Thai stock exchange is grappling with the departure of companies seeking deeper capital pools and higher valuations abroad. Regulators and the bourse have rolled out incentives such as relaxed listing rules to keep high-growth firms at home, but a market slump, foreign fund outflows and poor IPO performance have weighed on the attractiveness of the Bangkok market.

“There is less appeal in a domestic listing, with the unfavourable macro outlook from a weak economy to unstable politics,” Yod, 43, said on Thursday (Feb 5). “It should be in the best interest of our shareholders to list shares in another country that has a more vibrant stock market and trading activity.”

Line Man Wongnai, registered in Singapore, hired banks for an IPO in Thailand in 2025, according to Yod. It has now paused that plan and is assessing the market environment again.

Thailand’s IPO market raised about 13 billion baht (S$522 million) last year, the least since 2010, according to the stock exchange’s data. Among Thai companies opting to list elsewhere, cryptocurrency exchange operator Bitkub is considering an offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported. Coconut-water maker IFBH made its Hong Kong debut in June.

The market has been constrained partly by policy uncertainty as the country prepares to elect its fourth prime minister in less than three years on Feb 8. The economy has struggled through the recent instability and is now only 5 per cent larger than it was before the pandemic, equivalent to average annual growth of roughly 1 per cent.

Line Man Wongnai is moving ahead with plans to raise funds as it intends to boost investment in its fintech unit, Lineman Pay. The company is betting that the rising adoption of online payments will be its key driver of earnings growth, Yod said. The company had a profit for the first time in 2025, he said, without providing details.

Yod founded Wongnai with his college friends in 2010 as a restaurant review platform modelled on Yelp, an idea shaped during his studies in the US, the company website says. In 2020, it merged with Line Man, Line’s delivery service in Thailand.

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Line Man had been spun off from a unit of Naver, now a key backer of the combined company. Its major competitors include Grab Holdings. The company also operates as a merchant and restaurant solutions as well as a digital payment and cloud service.

Line Man Wongnai raised US$265 million in a funding round in 2022, led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Naver, propelling its value to more than US$1 billion. The company has about 10 million monthly active users, with 700,000 partnered restaurants. BLOOMBERG