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After Arm IPO, 4 SoftBank-backed firms look for a public market listing
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After Arm IPO, 4 SoftBank-backed firms look for a public market listing
Sep 18, 2023 12:50 PM

SoftBank-backed Arm Holdings raised $4.7 billion from investors on Wednesday, September 13, in the largest IPO of the year. This is the biggest listing in the US since Rivian Automotive debuted in late 2021 at a valuation of over $100 billion. The following are some of the other SoftBank-backed firms looking for a public market listing.

ByteDance | SoftBank first acquired a stake in the Chinese owner of popular short video app TikTok in 2018 at a valuation of $75 billion, according to PitchBook data. It sold a slice of its holding at a valuation of $220 billion in March 2023, according to PitchBook data. ByteDance is in no rush to go public amid Beijing’s heightened scrutiny of China’s technology giants, Reuters reported in July. It has also come under fierce scrutiny in the United States, due to concerns it may be sharing TikTok user data with the Chinese authorities. TikTok insists it has not shared and would not share US user data with the Chinese government.

Flipkart | SoftBank first acquired a $2.5 billion stake in the Indian e-commerce giant in 2017 but sold its entire stake to US retailer Walmart Inc in 2018. SoftBank got in again when it took part in a $3.6 billion funding round in July 2021 at $37.6 billion valuation. Reuters reported late last year that Flipkart internally raised its IPO valuation target to $60-$70 billion and planned a US listing in 2023, but currently nothing has been announced.

Kavak | SoftBank’s Latin America Fund bought a small stake in the Mexican used-car platform in 2019 and further raised its stake the following year when its valuation reached $1.15 billion, becoming the country’s first tech “unicorn”. In 2021, the online platform hit a valuation of $8.7 billion, according to PitchBook data. Its chief executive said in 2020 the aim was to go public within three years, however its Colombia country manager said earlier this year the company had no plans for further funding rounds.

PayPay | Reuters reported in July that PayPay, Japan’s largest mobile payments service firm, was considering a US listing on the promise of higher valuations for tech companies there than in Japan. A SoftBank executive said late last year PayPay was worth around 1 trillion yen ($6.8 billion). The timing of the listing remains unclear as PayPay has yet to demonstrate a clear path to profitability.

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