TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group’s Arm Holdings soared almost 25% above its Nasdaq debut price on Thursday, valuing the company at $65 billion.
The following are some of the other SoftBank-backed firms looking for a public market listing.
BYTEDANCE
SoftBank first acquired a stake in the Chinese owner of popular short video app TikTok in 2018 at a valuation of $75 billion, according to PitchBook data.
It sold a slice of its holding at a valuation of $220 billion in March 2023, according to PitchBook data.
ByteDance is in no rush to go public amid Beijing’s heightened scrutiny of China’s technology giants, Reuters reported in July.
It has also come under fierce scrutiny in the United States, due to concerns it may be sharing TikTok user data with the Chinese authorities.
TikTok insists it has not shared and would not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.
FLIPKART
SoftBank first acquired a $2.5 billion stake in the Indian e-commerce giant in 2017 but sold its entire stake to U.S. retailer Walmart Inc in 2018.
SoftBank got in again when it took part in a $3.6 billion funding round in July 2021 at $37.6 billion valuation.
Reuters reported late last year that Flipkart internally raised its IPO valuation target to $60-$70 billion and planned a U.S. listing in 2023, but currently nothing has been announced.
KAVAK
SoftBank’s Latin America Fund bought a small stake in the Mexican used-car platform in 2019 and further raised its stake the following year when its valuation reached $1.15 billion, becoming the country’s first tech “unicorn”.
In 2021, the online platform hit a valuation of $8.7 billion, according to PitchBook data.
Its chief executive said in 2020 the aim was to go public within three years, however its Colombia country manager said earlier this year the company had no plans for further funding rounds.
PAYPAY
Reuters reported in July that PayPay, Japan’s largest mobile payments service firm, was considering a U.S. listing on the promise of higher valuations for tech companies there than in Japan.
A SoftBank executive said late last year PayPay was worth around 1 trillion yen ($6.8 billion).
The timing of the listing remains unclear as PayPay has yet to demonstrate a clear path to profitability.
($1 = 147.7500 yen)
(Reporting by Anton Bridge and David Dolan; editing by David Evans)
