Kuala Lumpur-based video streaming startup iflix is said to be preparing for a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange in a float that could give it a valuation of more than $1 billion, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The report added that investment banking firms including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Macquarie Capital, Citi and Credit Suisse have been asked to pitch to iflix. If successful, the Malaysian firm will join two other large Southeast Asian startups that have gone public, NYSE-listed Sea Group and Hong Kong-listed Razer.
When contacted by DEALSTREETASIA, iflix said: “As a policy, we do not comment on speculation and rumour.”
Interestingly, iflix’s co-founder and CEO Mark Britt had told DEALSTREETASIA earlier that the startup will look to raise at least two more financing rounds before considering going public.
“We’re now at Series D, we will raise at least one or maybe two more rounds before we think about going public or even start to look like a mature business. The timing of the round will be dictated by shareholders we’re speaking to. We haven’t stopped speaking to potential investors since the day we founded the business. And I don’t think we will,” he said.
iflix last raised $133 million in September 2017 in a round led by US-based Hearst Communications and Singapore-based EDBI as well as clients of DBS Private Bank. Last December, it completely pulled out of Africa after selling its business in the region to telco group Econet Global Limited for an undisclosed amount.
The sale of the African business was a signal of iflix’s commitment to focus on its core market in Asia, the startup had said.
Founded in 2014 by Britt and Catcha Group CEO Patrick Grove, iflix claims to have 15 million subscribers across Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Maldives, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Cambodia, Nigeria, Nepal, Bangladesh and Morocco.
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