Kioson Set to Be Indonesia's First Public Start-Up
Jakarta. Kioson Komersial Indonesia is set to become the country's first start-up company to conduct an initial public offering at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, setting a path for raising capital for other start-ups to follow.
The government has been encouraging the country's bustling startup scene to be more involved on the stock market. IDX has also made it easier for local start-ups to go public.
"Our IPO decision is a breakthrough, and we hope the company can inspire other start-ups to be able to go public," said Jasin Halim, Kioson's president director.
Kioson, which provides a platform for individual and small businesses to sell electronic phones, power or gaming vouchers and which conducts branch-less banking, eyes to raise as much as Rp 45 billion ($3.41 million) from the IPO. It will sell 150 million new shares at Rp 280 to 300 a piece.
The company will use about three-fourths of the proceeds to acquire a 99.3 percent stake in Narindo Communications Solutions, an electronic voucher aggregation.
Jasin said that company has been trying to raise capital from venture capital firms, all of which demand majority shares. However, Kioson's existing shareholders — Artav Mobile Indonesia (70.06 percent), Seluler Makmur Sejahtera (12.5 percent), Sinar Mitra Investama (12.5 percent) and Mitra Komunikasi Nusantara (4.94 percent) — are not ready to accept a drastic dilution of their shares.
"That's why we finally made the company commit to an IPO," he explained.
Kioson, which was established in May 2015, still books losses in its operations. During the first four months of 2017, the company posted a net loss of Rp 4.45 billion, up 53 percent from Rp 2.91 billion in the same period last year.
Still, the company is confident due to its stellar revenue growth, as the company's January- April sales rose to Rp 26 billion, more than five times the Rp 4.75 billion in the same period a year ago.
Setiawan Parikesit Kencana, Kioson's finance director, said one of its acquisition targets, Narindo Communications Solutions, booked Rp 400 billion in revenue in the same period.
The company project that in 2018 it will post a revenue of around Rp 2 trillion, with Narindo accounting for about 80 percent of that revenue, Jasin said.
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