Carousell

[Wildreamz]

Not yet a public company but notable. Local start-ups like this are the bedrocks of Singapore's future.

[LionFlyer]

The larger question is, would they even want to list here? I won't.

[Wildreamz]

The larger question is, would they even want to list here? I won't.

Dual listing is a viable option for the case of Carousell (https://zuuonline.sg/investment/stocks/t...investors/).

That would give them access to better valuation, more liquidity and deeper capital markets. Scarcity of high-quality tech companies in Singapore may also help give them a valuation premium.

[opmi]

Carousell - high quality meh? So far only know how to burn VC money.

[weijian]

There are a couple of other Spore-headquartered platform-based companies like Grab and Qoo10, whom are not listed as well. While they are already well known locally, unfortunately the SG market is small and each have their own challenges to expand into SEA/Asiapac. With the exception of Grab in SEA, Carousell and Qoo10 are probably going to struggle against better funded local startups/new participants when they try to scale in new markets.

Besides the dual listing option that is already available, I suspect funding parentage (eg. how involved is GIC/Temasek/EDB in terms of investment into any of their Series XX funding) might make a big difference as well. Ecosystems like exchanges need a critical mass, so i believe scarcity will actually work against an IPO candidate if they are a new market segment. We just have to look at the REIT/Trust on SGX. It probably might be either all 3 on the local bourse or none at all.

[dreamybear]

Carousell - high quality meh? So far only know how to burn VC money.

".....Carousell generated US$7 million in revenue for 2018, of which direct media services and programmatic advertising collectively accounted for US$4.17 million, The Business Times reported on Thursday. Its topline grew four times from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the startup, which is valued at over US$550 million, registered a loss of US$25 million in 2018. This is narrower than the year-ago loss of US$29.8 million......

The startup used US$22 million of net cash flows for operations in 2018. It had US$55.4 million in cash as at end-2018, suggesting a runway of about two years, if the burn rate is unchanged. When asked if Carousell may seek fresh funding within the next two years, Mr Quek said: "I think quite possibly, just because we see so many growth possibilities ahead......"

Read more : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/...xt-2-years

[Wildreamz]

It's really easy to scrutinize a fledgling startup's financial statements (it almost never look good by traditional metric; any company that loses money chronically should be worth less than zero right?). But as a platform Carousell has proven to be providing real value to users and society, by making traditionally more inefficient markets (used electronics, resale market, now also cars and real estates) more efficient. Having the potential to eventually "close the loop" of modern consumerism (in the ideal world, it may eventually provide a one-stop solution for consumers to dispose/sell/recycle their used items). 

It is also providing something unique compared to other ecommerce platforms (such as shopee, qoo10 and lazada). It is akin to ebay minus the complex seller fees. 

It is currently under siege by Facebook Marketplace in many countries.


But it remains resilient in markets they are traditionally strong in (Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong):



Digital platforms that provides real value to users, are basically virtual real estates; and will be tremendously valuable and profitable for a very long time, due to sustained natural moats (e.g. network effects), once they figure out monetization. I hope they do, their Fintech (Caroupay) and Adtech initiatives look promising.

More key internet infrastructure being locally-owned, is a generally good thing. More local success story like these (if they make it eventually) is generally a good thing, for the local startup scene, as well as, as an inspiration for the next generation.

[opmi]

Ya. That guy joker. Revenue so jialat, confirm need to raise. If not, employees eat grass?

Rev low vs high burn rate. Meaning money not going into rev generating activities.

Caruopay got people use meh. All use cash outside the platform.

Caruosell cannot monetize one. I think.

Raising a lot of money at high valuation not = success.

VC only interested in countries with big populations. Indonesia already out for Carousell.

[Wildreamz]

They only very recently started their monetization initiatives, I'd give them a fighting chance at this juncture.   

Considering the amount of discount promotions they had the last few years, I'd estimate their fix cost isn't as much as $25 million would suggest (and hosting cost is generally trending down). And their revenues are increasing while their cost is decreasing, which is also a promising trend. 

My advise to them as an observer, would be to get to profitability in their main markets asap. Don't bite off more than you can chew at this juncture. Especially don't go into a discount war with rivals in unsettled markets..

The easy money environment will not last forever.

[opmi]

Hosting costs is low % of operating costs la. It is manpower like tech engineering and product people. Those will only get more expensive and Carousell will have to hire even more of those.