Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s largest online travel startup, plans to launch financial services in Thailand and Vietnam because it looks to go public within the U.S. through a blank check company, its CEO said.
The 9-year-old Indonesian company, which counts Expedia and Chinese website JD.com amongst its supporters, is seeing its business rebound strongly after the Covid-19 pandemic sapped demand.
The company’s CEO, Caesar Indra, told Reuters in an interview that Traveloka’s business in Vietnam has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, in Thailand is nearly back to normal levels and in Indonesia it’s half of pre-pandemic levels. “The worst has happened and we are now well prepared for 2021. Domestic travel is driving the economic recovery,” he said.
“We plan to invest heavily in fintech to enable more consumers to travel within the region,” Indra said, adding that the travel industry returned to profitability in late 2020.
Traveloka, which claims to have 40 million monthly energetic users, is developing buy now, pay later services for the Thai and Vietnamese markets.
“We recently formed a joint venture with one of the largest banks in Thailand to collaborate in the fintech space,” Indra said. Traveloka, which has smaller local rivals, can also be talking to potential partners in Vietnam, but Indra declined to call the parties.
Indra says Traveloka’s two-year-old similar service in Indonesia, launched after the corporate realized customers would wait until paydays to book travel, has already facilitated greater than 6 million loans.
Last 12 months, Traveloka introduced “Paylater” bank cards with some Indonesian lenders. It also offers insurance and wealth management services.
Indra said the business potential is large in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, where just 6% of the 270 million population have bank cards.
Asked if Traveloka could buy a bank in Indonesia like other startups to expand its financial services, Indra said “all options are being considered.”
Traveloka, also backed by Singapore wealth fund GIC and Indonesian enterprise capital firm East Ventures, has expanded its local lifestyle services in Indonesia, where it offers restaurant vouchers and a food delivery service, in addition to popular rapid Covid-19 tests.
Indra said that this company is Indonesia’s largest restaurant review app.
Traveloka, which was preparing for a stock exchange listing, is in talks with special purpose acquisition firms, or SPACs, regarding an inventory on the US stock exchange.
“US markets have become increasingly attractive as there is greater appreciation of Southeast Asia as a thriving region, and a US listing can also provide US investors with the opportunity to become part of Southeast Asia’s growth story,” Indra said.
Many SPACs, publicly traded shell firms that raise money through IPOs and merge with firms with shorter listing timelines, have turned to Southeast Asian startups.
Bridgetown Holdings, backed by Asian tycoon Richard Li, Provident Acquisition and Cova Acquisition are suitors to Traveloka, with the startup’s potential valuation reaching $5 billion, the source said. The firms didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment made outside normal U.S. business hours. Indra declined to comment but said listing the corporate on the Indonesian stock exchange remained an option.
