Cofounders Reeve Kwan, Nick Tang and Steven Lam of GoGoVan pose in Kwun Tong.
Six months after Hong Kong saw its first tech unicorn IPO, another tech unicorn made its debut in the city.
Shares of GogoX, a logistics startup, fell 22% from their initial public offering price in their first day of trading Friday, giving it a market capitalization of $1.3 billion.
GogoX, formerly known as GogoVan, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, raising $85 million to grow its user base, raise its brand awareness, develop new services and products, and to fund logistics-related investments and acquisitions overseas. Its IPO follows that of AI startup SenseTime, which was the first Hong Kong tech unicorn to go public in December 2021.
Founded in 2013 by Steven Lam, Nick Tang and Reeve Kwan, GogoX operates an on-demand delivery services platform that now has over 27.6 million shippers and 5.2 million drivers. The company says it operates in more than 340 cities across Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, South Korea and India. GogoX reported that revenue rose 25% to 660.9 million yuan (about $100 million) in calendar year 2020, while losses widened by a third to 872.9 million yuan.
Rival logistics startup Lalamove is also planning to go public. In July last year, Bloomberg reported that Lalamove is weighing a $1 billion Hong Kong listing. According to GogoX’s prospectus, citing research by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, Lalamove has a market share of 18.5% in Hong Kong, while GogoX has about a 50.9% share. But Lalamove is the market leader in China with a 52.8% share, while GogoX has about a 3.2% share.
GogoX, Lalamove and other logistics startups including CALL4VAN and Zeek grew on the back of Hong Kong’s well-developed transportation networks and infrastructure. Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, also has a significant logistics business in Hong Kong. From 1999 to 2004, the city’s Kwai Tsing Container Terminals was the busiest port in the world until it was surpassed by Singapore.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaydecheung/2022/06/24/gogox-hong-kongs-first-tech-unicorn-startup-slumps-in-trading-debut/