Thailand's Line Man Wongnai raises $265m
Thailand’s Line Man Wongnai – a food delivery, taxi, and messaging app – has raised a USD 265m round featuring GIC at a valuation of USD 1bn. It claims to be the largest start-up locally.
Line Man Wongnai was formed in 2020 through the merger of Line Man, the local messaging app operated by Japan’s Line, and Wongnai Media, a restaurant listings and reviews platform.
BRV Capital, which invested USD 110m in Line Man in 2020, also participated with support from Line, Taiwan Mobile, and Bualuang Ventures, a VC arm of Bangkok Bank. They were joined by Thailand-listed industrial conglomerate Oil & Retail Business, which has significant lifestyle interests, including food and retail stores.
Line Man Wongnai claims to be the fastest growing food platform in the country with deliveries growing by more than 15x since January 2020. It operates in all 77 provinces, serving 700,000 restaurants. Its point-of-sale service is used by more than 50,000 merchants, and its restaurant database connects some 1m merchants.
The fresh capital will be used to strengthen positioning in food delivery, expand into new service categories, improve technology infrastructure, and recruit talent. This includes plans to build out the technology team to more than 450 professionals by the end of 2022.
“The announcement opens the next chapter for Line Man Wongnai to grow from a local Thai start-up to a regional tech platform,” CFO In Young Chung said in a statement. “Our Line Man Wongnai team will strive to become the most inspiring tech company through IPO and beyond in coming years, for our society and young generations.”
Wongnai made plans to IPO on its own after receiving backing from InVest, the VC arm of local telecom and IT company Intouch Holdings, in 2016. Intouch had taken an approximately 10% interest in Wongnai in what was touted as the first Series B round for a Thai start-up led by a local venture investor. Wongnai’s early investors also included Recruit Strategic Partners.
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