Grab’s $40bn Nasdaq listing is a key test for Asian tech

ABIG CHANGESPACSPAC is under way in Asia’s technology industry. As investors avert their eyes from the government-imposed nightmare engulfing China’s internet champions, a cohort of South-East Asian counterparts is booming. Tot up the value ascribed by the market to just three listed and soon-to-be listed consumer-app giants with headquarters in Singapore and Jakarta, and the figure approaches a quarter of a trillion dollars. Add to that the $70bn-or-so combined worth of a whole field of new unicorns—privately-held startups worth $1bn or more—and South-East Asia is fulfilling hopes, long-held, that a big emerging-market consumer-tech sector would rise outside China.On December 2nd, as went to press, Singapore-based Grab, a consumer-technology firm, was due to list on America’s Nasdaq through a merger with a . The record-breaking transaction is expected to value Grab at $40bn. Another giant, GoTo Group, formed from the merger of Indonesia’s Gojek, a ride-hailing firm, with Tokopedia, an e-commerce company, will follow in the first half of 2022. Sea, largest of the three behemoths, and parent to regional e-commerce pioneer Shopee, was the earliest to list, in 2017. Its market value has risen seven-fold since the end of 2019, to $145bn, making it the largest listed firm in South-East Asia.