Malaysia already has THREE Unicorns and they are... (as of October 2021)

Ever since we touched on the topic of Unicorn companies, our readers are very excited and argue that why Malaysia doesn't have a Unicorn (after our very first was being migrated to Singapore - Grab)?

Well well well... As of now (after MOSTI recently announcing that one of their goals is to create 5 Unicorn startups by 2025), suddenly we have THREE, and not ONE. Wow! So effective!

Okay lah... Coming back to the topic, who are they actually?

#################################################################

#################################################################

#1 Unicorn: Carsome

Carsome is Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform. With presence across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, we aim to digitalize the region’s used car industry by reshaping and elevating the car buying and selling experience.

From car inspection, ownership transfer, to easy financing, selling a car becomes hassle-free. Carsome eliminates the pain points in the traditional used car selling process, offering end-to-end effective solutions to consumers and used car dealers.

Straits Times quotes Carsome is valued at US$1.3 billion in its latest funding round in Sep-2021. According to company data, Carsome has raised a total of approximately US$285 million to date, with its latest fundraising exercise, Series E of US$170 million in Sep-2021. This funding activity was led by Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek, Catcha Group, and Penjana Capital.

A few months ago, the used car platform partnered with Catcha Group to acquire Australia-listed rival iCar Asia in a $200 million deal. The combined company is aiming to reach $1 billion in revenue and 100,000 vehicles in annual transactions, according to Carsome.

#################################################################

#################################################################

#2 Unicorn: AirAsia Digital

AirAsia Digital (previously known as RedBeat Ventures) is the digital venture arm of AirAsia Group. AirAsia Digital leverages the Group’s physical and digital assets, to create an ecosystem of businesses that connect with our customers in their everyday life, transforming the AirAsia brand into a fully-fledged digital company.

AirAsia Digital integrates the Group’s continued innovation focus and business building expertise, best-in-breed technology solutions, talent development programmes, and big data insights, for travel and lifestyle businesses to thrive in ASEAN.

AirAsia Digital comprises of three key focus businesses:

1) AirAsia Super App

All in one platform with a growing number of Travel, Lifestyle, and Rewards offerings for everyday needs and access to vast amounts of data to provide customized offerings for their customers such as Flights (AirAsia and other airlines), Hotels, SNAP (Flights & Hotel packages), Unlimited, AirAsia farm, AirAsia food, AirAsia fresh, AirAsia beauty, AirAsia shop, AirAsia health, AirAsia academy (Redbeat Academy), IKHLAS, BIG Rewards, and AirAsia Media Group (content and ads).

2) Logistics

Teleport - Cross-border logistics operations encompassing freight, delivery, and e-commerce. Tech-enabled regional logistics service providers with the capabilities to enable 24-hour cross-border door-to-door deliveries by leveraging AirAsia and interline partners’ wide network.

3) Fintech

BigPay - Asean Challenger Bank - Fintech company focusing on payment solutions, remittance, lending as well as a soon-to-be a virtual bank. BigPay aims to democratise financial services across ASEAN by providing great value financial products such as multi-currency e-wallet, remittance services, and lending.

More recently, in Jul-2021, AirAsia Digital established its ‘unicorn’ status via an all share transaction.

To recap, it acquired 100% of Go-jek Thailand for US$40 million and 100% of Velox Fintech for US$10 million in exchange for 4.76% shares in AirAsia Superapp (it was a wholly-owned subsidiary of AirAsia Digital, pre-deal). This effectively values AirAsia Digital’s super app at US$1.05 billion (this excludes the value of BigPay and Teleport).

#################################################################

#################################################################

#3 Unicorn: edotco

Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, edotco was formed in 2012 as an offshoot of Axiata to own and operate tower assets. It has since expanded regionally with offices across Asia in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Laos, and the Philippines. edotco Group is the first and leading regional integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia.

The company specialises in end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector including co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission, and operations and maintenance (O&M), with a regional portfolio that includes over 41,000 towers, with 23,845 towers directly operated by edotco and a further 17,860 towers managed.

Reuters quotes valuation of edotco at US$ 2.0 - 2.2 billion in 2020.

Axiata now holds 63% of edotco while Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Khazanah Nasional, and KWAP hold 21.14%, 10.57%, and 5.29%, respectively.

#################################################################
#################################################################

So, who will be the #4 and #5 coming soon?

Finance Malaysia? 🙋

Follow our active updates via Facebook @FinanceMalaysia