Southeast Asia’s tech giants could ‘gobble up’ start-ups after going public, venture capitalist says

Southeast Asia’s tech giants could ‘gobble up’ start-ups after going public, venture capitalist says

SINGAPORE “” Southeast Asia's tech giants could buy up start-ups using funds they gain when they go public, according to a managing partner of an early-stage venture capital firm."They're basically going to gobble up a number of start-ups," Vinnie Lauria of Golden Gate Ventures told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Friday.He said likely buyers would include Grab, Sea as well as GoTo, the combined company ifIndonesian behemoths Gojek and Tokopedia successfully merge."Being listed on an exchange gives them the capital to grow, gives them the valuation to do these sort of acquisitions “” a mix of cash and equity," he said.Lauria noted that is "exactly what played out in China 10 to 15 years ago," with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent buying up smaller companies.

Southeast Asia's tech leaders

SoftBank-backed Grab announced earlier this month that it is set to go public via aSPAC merger with Altimeter Group in a $39.6 billion deal, the largest such merger to date.Special purpose acquisition companies are shell companies that raise capital and merge with or acquire private firms. These deals provide companies an alternative route for going public, one that bypasses the traditional initial public offering process.Sea, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange,