Little-known giant set to take center stage in SEA credit reporting

Opening Bell 🔔 is Tech in Asia’s free newsletter that brings you the biggest news and latest trends around Asia’s publicly listed tech companies. [Read from your browser]( Opening Bell 🔔 Welcome to the Opening Bell! Delivered every Monday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and latest trends on Asia’s publicly listed tech companies. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Written by Shravanth Vijayakumar Journalist Hello {NAME} It’s safe to say loss-making tech firms once riding a tsunami of investor funds are now forced to scamper in the kiddie pool as a funding winter sets in amid an uncertain macroeconomic climate. However, that isn’t the case for Southeast Asia’s fintech space, where funding [grew]( 26% in the first half of 2022, compared with the same period last year. With most of the region's population being underbanked and unbanked, it is easy to see why the funds continue to flow as fintech is yet to make its inevitable transition (as it has done in other parts of the world) to being an integral part of day-to-day life for most Southeast Asians. Investors worried about missing the fintech bandwagon can now wipe the sweat off their forehead as today’s featured piece spotlights a little-known Malaysian credit reporting giant, CTOS (CTOS, KLSE), which is not only profitable, but also pays a dividend. Yes, you read that right. That’s just a part of the good news: With rising revenue and expanding EBITDA margins, on top of a diversified client base, CTOS is set to stay the dominant player in Malaysia for the foreseeable future, brushing off competition from the likes of Dun & Bradstreet Malaysia, a unit of Credit Bureau Asia (TCU, SGX). However, an acquisition spree that has seen CTOS splurge more money than it raised in its IPO – the largest on the country’s stock exchange, last year – hints at wider ambitions that could lay outside Malaysia and traditional credit reporting. While CTOS has hit pause on its buying for “next one to two years,” the question still remains: Why tweak a winning formula, especially if there is still plenty of room to grow for Southeast Asia’s credit reporting market? This is a conundrum my colleague, Simon, looks to unravel in today’s Big Story as he delves into CTOS’ financials as well as the finer details of Southeast Asia’s considerably underpenetrated credit-reporting space. -- Shravanth  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE BIG STORY  [Malaysia’s CTOS reports strong Q3 results, set to ride SEA’s fintech wave]( The credit reporting agency has been seeing strong results, with multiple acquisitions fueling growth. Will a pause in deal-making change anything? See also: [GoTo Group’s (GOTO, IDX) Tokopedia making strides in credit scoring]( ---------------------------------------------------------------  3 TRENDS TO KEEP AN EYE ON Hot stocks, earnings reports, restructuring, pressure from activist investors, and more. 1️⃣ Is the Mitra unit now Bukalapak’s (BUKA, IDX) crown jewel?: The Indonesia-based tech titan built its name as an ecommerce platform battling it out with GoTo’s Tokopedia, Sea Group’s (SE, NYSE) Shopee, and Alibaba’s (BABA, NDAQ) Lazada for supremacy in its local market. However, in its bid to accelerate its path to “proper” profitability, i.e, excluding unrealized gains from its investment in Allo Bank (BBHI, IDX), the firm has its fingerprints all over a host of sectors from [gaming]( and [e-grocery]( to digibanking and [rolling up]( of consumer brands. It appears now that Bukalapak has hit the nail on the head through Mitra Bukalapak, its online-to-offline solution that helps small retailers procure physical goods to sell. The unit contributed to 53% of the firm’s third-quarter revenue, which [jumped]( 86% from the same period last year. In the first signs of Bukalapak venturing firmly beyond its ecommerce base, the company quietly [expanded]( the Mitra service, which had 15.2 million registered users as of September, to the Philippines in July.  Visual story: [Bukalapak’s financial performance in 7 charts]( 2️⃣ US giants work to reduce dependence on China: iPhone maker Apple (AAPL, NDAQ) has felt the strain of its overreliance on the world’s second-largest economy as a hub for assembly and manufacturing over the last few years. Beijing’s strict zero-Covid policy has caused supply-chain bottlenecks for countless tech firms but none more so than Apple. Last week, Chinese authorities locked down a district in Zhengzhou city, home to the world's largest iPhone factory. So, it’s not surprising that the world’s most valuable firm has been asking its contract manufacturers, including Foxconn (2354, TPE), since May to look to India and Vietnam to boost production. The firm has already [moved]( parts of its iPad production to Vietnam and is also looking to [shift]( manufacturing for the Apple Watch and MacBook to the Southeast Asian nation. India is soon [expected]( to contribute 25% of global iPhone production and is likely to be a [new manufacturing hub]( for AirPods and Beats. Another US tech titan slowly veering away from China is Amazon (AMZN, NDAQ). The firm has been [courting]( more exporters from Vietnam to sell on its platform instead of Chinese marketplaces, with the number of Vietnamese sellers on its platform increasing 80% year on year. 3️⃣ Capital A’s (CAPI, KLSE) super app ready for take off: The parent firm of budget carrier AirAsia seems to be posturing to take the Southeast Asian super-app space by storm. Last month, the firm’s super app [posted]( a 161% year-on-year growth in average monthly active users to a total of 9.5 million users. Now, the AirAsia super app is set for a stern contest against Grab (GRAB, NDAQ) and GoTo as it [enters]( Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the region’s most populous nation. Its primary focus will be on the country’s travel hotspot, Bali. Further, in the latest hint of shifting priorities, Tony Fernandes [has left]( his post as CEO of AirAsia X, the sister company to AirAsia, just four months after taking up the executive role. The decision was made due to “other commitments.”  Read more: [AirAsia Rides builds on Gojek’s operations to battle Grab in Bangkok](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  2 EYE-POPPING FACTS Tech in Asia scours the internet to bring you head-turning numbers from the world of business.  [5,000]( - These are the number of trial participants who will get to use Grab’s and payments infrastructure platform StraitsX’s “purpose-bound money” vouchers through their preferred blockchain e-wallet app. Purpose-bound money enables senders to dictate conditions for the use of their digital Singapore dollars. [US$450 billion]( - That is the astonishing amount of money traders poured into Chinese stocks for two days straight last week after an unverified screenshot detailed a China-reopening plan. The post first began circulating in Tencent’s (0700, HKG) WeChat social messaging groups, filled with analysts and fund managers, before it spread like wildfire.  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE ONES YOU DIDN'T SEE COMING We spotlight the unusual, not-your-everyday kind of story that had everyone talking and social media buzzing over the past week.  SEA’s greentech state of affairs With the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference - commonly referred to as the COP27 - kicking off on Sunday, November 6 in Egypt, it feels only appropriate to highlight some of the current sustainability and greentech efforts in Southeast Asia. For starters, to aid Indonesia's bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, the nation’s stock exchange [is working]( with MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX), a Singapore-based fintech firm, to develop a [carbon-exchange system]( in Indonesia. Further, in a relatively unusual maneuver for tech firms in Southeast Asia, Lazada [released]( its first-ever environmental, social, and governance report. The Singapore-based ecommerce giant claims to have created over 1.1 million economic opportunities across its six Southeast Asian markets, as of March 2022.  --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to our preference center at the bottom of this email. Happy investing and see you next week! Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Kindly do not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. [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. Too many emails? 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