Sea Limited
At the forefront of Southeast Asia’s digital future
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What does it do?
Sea is a leading technology company from Southeast Asia, offering ecommerce (Shopee), digital finance (SeaMoney), and gaming (Garena). Established in 2009, Garena is a leading online games developer and publisher with a global footprint across more than 130 markets. Garena was in fact Sea's original name, and its cash flows provided vital early investments in the rest of the business. Hence, launched in 2015, Shopee is now the leading ecommerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan; while SeaMoney, established in 2014, is a leading digital payments and financial services provider. Sea thereby supports social mobility and growth of the economy by providing commercial and financial infrastructure. It is expanding from Southeast Asia into Latin America, making it an increasingly significant global ecommerce competitor.
Why do we invest?
Southeast Asia benefits from a population of 600 million people, GDP growth, and increasing consumer spending. Within this context, Sea's focus on ecommerce, digital finance, and gaming targets new demand for convenience, entertainment, and a wide range of goods. With a strong cash position and management’s ambition to combine growth with profitability, Sea is well-placed to capitalise on structural trends and sustain growth well above GDP while improving margins.
Sea's advantage is in the dynamic integration of gaming, ecommerce, and digital finance, serving the burgeoning middle class of Southeast Asia. This strategy is buoyed by positive macroeconomic trends, including GDP growth and rising consumer expenditure. The company's leadership has achieved growth by tapping into the demands of the region's young, urbanising demographic’s demand for convenience, entertainment, and diverse product offerings. Notably, Shopee’s model (discovery-driven, local merchants, integrated logistics) is rather unique and might be difficult to replicate. This gives us reasonable conviction that it can maintain a lead in Southeast Asia. Garena’s gaming titles rank among the global bestsellers, and SeaMoney is significantly improving financial inclusivity for the millions of underbanked. It aims for long-term margin improvement in ecommerce and robust growth in gaming and fintech. Investment in logistics and a focus on operational efficiencies strengthen this strategy.
Sea is not merely catering to growing economies; it is building commercial and financial infrastructure to create more growth.
Who is key?
Forrest Li is a central figure. As a CEO and founder who owns a significant portion of the company, his leadership and vision have been crucial in steering Sea's direction and growth.
When
Founded in: 2009
Invested in: 2024
Where
Headquartered: Singapore
Listing status
Public
Important information
The company showcased on this page is part of a diversified portfolio. The commentary should not be taken as advice on an individual stock.
Investment trusts are UK public companies and are not authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You may not get back the amount invested and please bear in mind that past performance is not a guide to future performance.