Thai food delivery app Line Man Wongnai weighs IPO in Thailand, US in 2025 | TechCrunch

Line Man Wongnai, an on-demand food delivery service in Thailand, is considering an initial public offering on the Thai exchange or in the US in 2025, the company’s CEO and co-founder, Yod Chinsupakul, said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch.

line man wonganai Chinsupakaul said it has not yet decided where it will launch the IPO, but a dual listing in Thailand and the US is unlikely.

The company is backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC; Z Holdings, a joint venture formed by SoftBank and South Korean internet firm, Naver; and BRV Asia, among others. It has raised more than $372 million in total and has a valuation of more than $1 billion.

“We are focused on continued business execution and restructuring as key priorities ahead of a potential IPO, and we will continue to assess our capital structure and financing needs, including various fundraising options,” Chinsupakul said.

According to Chinsupakaul, the company’s specialties are its strategic partnerships with Line and its understanding of customer behaviour, local merchants, delivery personnel and the regulatory environment.

Vongnai started in 2010 as a restaurant review platform. It merged in 2020 line man, which offers food and grocery delivery, on-demand ride-hailing, and a messenger app. Then in 2023 the company acquired Rabbit Line Pay (RLP)an online and offline payment platform, and foodstory, a Thai point of sale (POS) startup. The company says the acquisitions strengthened its revenues and expanded its customer base.

The merger with Line Man was an important milestone for Vongnai Line is Thailand’s most popular messaging app – The app is used by more than 90% of Thais, with more than 50 million users in the country, Chinsupakaul said. According to the CEO, what differentiates the startup from its competitors is its ability to take advantage of Line’s huge user base, as many of the app’s users choose to pay through the linked Line payment app.

Today, the company offers everything from food and grocery delivery and restaurant reviews to a payments platform, POS for merchants, and ride-hailing – rivaling competitors like Grab in the country.

“Our history has proven that we are agile and have the ability to execute strategic M&A. We are always assessing potential investment opportunities to further our strategic objectives, which may include potential investments and/or M&A if it supports our long-term goals. We’re very open,” Chinsupakul said.

The CEO said the company intends to grow its POS business for merchants and payment service.

“Those two other businesses are relatively smaller than our food delivery business [as we are a latecomer], So we want to increase them manifold,” Chinsupakul said. He said the company will continue to invest in growing its technology team, especially in the data and AI space.

Line Man Wongnai faces tough competition in the food delivery sector in Thailand from Singapore’s Grab and Indonesia’s GoTo, which have their own super apps and also provide e-commerce services.

Currently, GrabFood leads the food delivery market in Thailand with 56% market share, followed by Line Man Wongnai with 53%. As of April 2023, Shopee is at number three, followed by Siam Commercial Bank (SCB)’s Robinhood. Statista report,

Room to grow in Thailand

Chinsupakul said the penetration of online food and grocery delivery in Thailand is low and there is considerable room for growth. In February 2024, the penetration rate of online food delivery in Thailand was 27.14%, while Grocery delivery was 17.34%,

As for ride-hailing services, Chinsupakaul said people in Thailand still use on-demand taxi services through apps, but the online-only market could be larger. User penetration of ride-hailing apps in the market is expected to reach 19.8% this year Statista,

Asked if the company aims to become a super app like Grab and Goto, Chinsupakaul said Line Man Wongnai is aiming high. “A super app is only for the consumer side, but Line Man Vongnai’s services are for both consumers and merchants. “We are a combination of Meituan and WeChat Pay.”

The company intends to focus on the Thailand market at this time and is not considering expanding into other Southeast Asian countries before going public.