Delivery group serving remote Southeast Asian villages weighs IPO

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Ninja Van, a logistics group that has used motorcycles, boats and even water buffalo to deliver 1.7 million packages each day across Southeast Asia, is considering an initial public offering as soon as possible. next year after being valued at $ 1 billion.

Backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital, Ninja Van’s revenue and order growth has exploded thanks to an e-commerce boom fueled by Southeast Asia’s 400 million internet users.

With 34,000 employees and 1,800 sorting stations, the seven-year-old company specializes in delivering to thousands of small towns and remote villages in Southeast Asia that international couriers find it difficult to serve. Despite the lockdowns imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, daily shipments have increased from 1 million in May 2020 to 1.7 million in July.

Chang Wen Lai, one of the co-founders of Ninja Van, told the Financial Times that the company was “one year” away from an IPO.

Two people familiar with Ninja Van’s plans said she approached advisers to start discussions on the process, with the United States being the most likely location for a listing.

Ninja Van did not disclose her valuation, but one of the people said she passed $ 1 billion after her $ 279 million round of funding last year. The company is almost at breakeven and aims for profitability in 2022.

Ninja Van has benefited from an e-commerce boom in Southeast Asia. The total sales value of merchandise sold online in the region increased 63% to $ 62 billion in 2020, according to an analysis by Google, Singaporean public investor Temasek and consultancy firm Bain.

Companies in the region are increasingly entering the logistics space, including ride-sharing companies Gojek and Grab and even Tony Fernandes’ AirAsia.

Ninja Van hopes to distinguish itself with its extensive delivery networks. Lai said the company’s couriers can deliver to the most remote areas of Southeast Asia, which most competitors cannot access on a large scale.

Ninja Van also uses the technology to allow sellers to see their performance and customers to track packages using platforms such as Facebook.

Karen Almenana, who operates a Ninja Van station in Cagayan de Oro, on the island of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, said delivery volumes have increased by 150% in the past 12 months.

Its drivers deliver packages across unpaved mountains, rice paddies and oceans, and even during typhoons. A driver once used a carabao, a type of buffalo used to plow fields, to traverse difficult terrain, she said.

The drivers are tested for their “hand-eye coordination” and their ability to balance packages under precarious circumstances, Almenana added.

Anna Manatnant, a 29-year-old Bangkok-based influencer who sells second-hand shoes and clothing online through Instagram and Shopee platforms, said low prices and customer service were among the reasons she chose Ninja. Van.

But Jeffrey Seah, a partner at Singapore-based venture capital firm Quest Ventures, pointed out that price competition is a big challenge for newbie delivery groups.

“In general, logistics is a price war game. It’s a costly battle for market share, maybe even a battle for the winner, ”Seah said.

“Some e-commerce companies are also launching their own logistics services, in part aimed at preventing incumbents from raising prices.”