Is Zomato’s $6b IPO huge or nah?

More: TikTok gets a new Singapore-based CEO and Gojek goes greener [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} Stock exchanges are beginning to get real busy, what with the number of tech companies going public this year. Somehow, I’ve also gotten a share of that busyness as my friends are turning to me for stocks intel, seeing how I’m working in a company that writes about tech. Unfortunately, I’m clueless about investments, so I told them to read Tech in Asia newsletters every day instead. ;) Lucky for them (and you as well), we’ve set our sights on two hot companies that are planning to go public soon and compare how well they fare against similar companies in their industries. Today, we look at: - How [big is Zomato]( compared to other food delivery majors? - [Pitting Grab’s valuation]( against other delivery giants in the region - Other newsy highlights such as TikTok’s new Singapore-based CEO and Gojek’s move to go greener  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  Zomato is big in India, but just how big is it, really? Zomato is huge: The food delivery unicorn bought out Uber Eats’ Indian operations in 2020 and is going public at an expected valuation of US$6 billion to US$8 billion this year. But how does it compare with other companies like London-listed delivery service Deliveroo and Southeast Asian super app Grab, which will soon get listed too? - The shiny valuation of Zomato is actually a lot smaller when you compare it to Grab and Uber, which are both able to ride on their ride-hailing businesses. - Gross merchandise value: Zomato’s GMV is also much lower than Grab’s and Deliveroo’s. However, as our journalist Tito Das noted, India is still in the early stages of transitioning to a digital economy, so it has a huge growth opportunity in the future. - Profits and losses: The three companies posted fairly similar operating losses. But according to our chart, while Grab and Deliveroo were able to bring theirs down, Zomato’s has remained stagnant over the fiscal years 2018 to 2019 and FY 2019 to 2020. Read more: [Sizing up Zomato, India’s food delivery app](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY We pit Grab’s valuation against other super apps in the region Grab is going public in the US with an estimated valuation of US$40 billion - an amount close to valuation of the combined entity of Gojek-Tokopedia merger. But how does that figure stack up against the numbers of other ride-hailing startups in the region? - Not so shiny anymore... when you hold up Grab’s US$40 billion valuation against Chinese player Meituan’s US$220 billion and US-based Uber’s US$103.6 billion. - Valuation-to-revenue multiple: But when we compare Grab’s valuation to its revenue ratio, the super app’s valuation is 33.41x of its net revenue – the highest among comparable companies, according to our chart. - Monthly active users: As of December 2020, Grab has 25 million monthly active users while Uber has 93 million and Didi Chuxing has 56 million. Read more: [Visualizing the size of Grab]( ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BYTES  1️⃣ Tick tock, time for a new boss Popular short-video app TikTok has named [a new CEO]( Chew Shou Zi, the former chief financial officer of its parent company ByteDance. Based in Singapore, Chew was also the ex-CFO and international business president of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.  2️⃣ Gojek gets greener The Indonesian ride-hailing startup [announced its plans]( to make every car and motorcycle on its platform an electric vehicle by 2030 under a zero-emission pledge laid out in its first annual sustainability report. To achieve this, Gojek will form partnerships with manufacturers and pursue favorable leasing arrangements, according to co-CEO Executive Kevin Aluwi.  3️⃣ Slapped with more fines *ouch Internet giant Tencent, ride-hailing titan Didi Chuxing, and eight other major internet companies in China were [each fined US$77,243]( by antitrust regulators for not reporting the acquisition of smaller competitors and starting new joint ventures.  4️⃣ Chinese tech companies in hot water, again Thirty-three apps from Tencent, Baidu, Sougou and more were found to have [violated data collection regulations]( and gathered data that wasn’t relevant to their services. The companies have 10 days to correct their unauthorized data collection; otherwise, they face more fines.  5️⃣ Byju’s snapping up edtech startups The India-based edtech heavyweight is [planning to acquire]( local upskilling platform Great Learning and exam preparation company Gradeup for US$330 million to US$350 million and US$40 million to US$50 million respectively. This development comes after Byju’s raised US$1 billion and acquired Aakash Educational Services.  6️⃣ Alibaba bumped up salaries to retain staff, but is it effective? According to sources, the Chinese ecommerce behemoth is [reportedly giving]( bigger salary increases to junior employees after freezing the pay of senior executives this year. The move is reportedly an attempt to retain staff amid a regulatory shakedown.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  UNLOCKED PREMIUM ARTICLE How Gushcloud defied the odds by growing and staying profitable amid a pandemic The pandemic has hit the influencer industry hard. Even though media consumption has gone up, brands are pulling back on marketing, depriving influencers of the means to pay for the content they create. But Gushcloud claims to have bucked that trend, with its revenue shooting up by a single-digit percentage from 2019 to 2020. The agency turned profitable in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is on track to stay in the black in Q1 2021, says group CEO Althea Lim. We’ve unlocked this [premium article]( in full for you to read this week. You can find all the other unlocked premium articles [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - The intersection of user experience with user security on May 6 As companies increasingly conduct their businesses online, more and more information becomes vulnerable to cyber threats. But how can a tech startup ensure that its data is safe without compromising on usability and business goals? We have invited the region’s leading tech companies to discover just how their companies manage cybersecurity attacks and align security measures with business outcomes. [RSVP for free today](. - Fast Forward with HPE, open till May 7 Got a winning enterprise solution? Get the chance to pitch it to HPE’s top enterprise customers in this program focused on helping startups accelerate innovation, create collaborative opportunities, develop business strategies, and expand their footprint beyond the APAC region. Winning digital startups will be part of an exclusive community, working alongside technology partners and industry leaders, and receive full regional marketing support for a year. [Be part of Fast Forward with HPE today]( and bring your business to the next level. - Tech in Asia Pitch Night on June 22 Are you a startup founder looking to get some feedback from experts and investors? Then join us this June as we invite six startups from across Southeast Asia to pitch to Charles Ferguson, Asia-Pacific general manager at Globalization Partners, as well as an audience of founders, investors, and professionals from the region’s top tech companies. [Sign up today]( to get your pitching slot!  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Account Manager]( at Ematic Solutions (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - [Software Engineer - Backend]( at Spurr (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Assistant Project Manager (Software / Application)]( at Worldwide Recruitment Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd (Singapore, Singapore)  ---------------------------------------------------------------  SHARE WITH YOUR FRIEND If you're feeling generous today, help us share this newsletter with your friends and coworkers so that they can keep up with what’s going on in the region’s tech scene. Feel free to [drop us some feedback]( if our newsletter today got you feeling smarter (or if it didn’t).  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Thanks for reading! Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi (or tea). [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Was this forwarded to you? You can read this everyday when you sign up [here](. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](. ---------------------------------------------------------------  Today’s edition was written by Betty Chum, with contributions from Tito Das. It’s edited by Eileen C. Ang. Copyright © 2021 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554