Vietnamese video gaming and social media start-up VNG files to be country’s first tech firm to go public in US
- VNG plans to offer nearly 22 million shares in the IPO and list on the Nasdaq, but will continue to be controlled by its founders
- The company started as a video game publisher and now runs Vietnam’s most popular messaging app, drawing comparisons to China’s Tencent
Internet start-up VNG filed for an initial public offering in the US, making it the first Vietnamese technology company to seek a listing in New York and adding to a diversifying roster of companies planning listings as equity markets thaw.
VNG, which plans to offer almost 22 million shares in the IPO, will set a proposed price range in a later filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said in its filing on Wednesday that it will continue to be controlled by founders Le Hong Minh and Vuong Quang Khai. VNG will own 49 per cent of VNG Corp, the Vietnamese operating company.
Formerly known as Vinagame, VNG Corp had its start as a game publisher in 2004. It develops and publishes its own titles as well as local versions of international hits, and has gradually expanded to a wide range of services, such as music sharing, video streaming, messaging, a news portal and mobile payments. It has been exploring going public in the US since at least 2017.
“We were born after the war, in a nation that had found peace and unity, but was still struggling with underdevelopment and isolation,” VNG’s founders said in a letter to investors included in the prospectus. “Little did we know how lucky we were when the Internet arrived in Vietnam in the middle of the 1990s. The world magically and suddenly opened the door for us.”
VNG’s IPO would follow this month’s US debut of Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker Vinfast Auto after it completed a merger with blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition Co in a deal valuing it at US$23 billion.
A listing by VNG would add momentum to an IPO market that has been warming in fits and starts. Chip designer Arm Holdings, majority owned by SoftBank Group Corp, is planning to go public in September in what would be the year’s biggest IPO. San Francisco-based grocery delivery firm Instacart and marketing, data automation provider Klaviyo, and footwear maker Birkenstock are also preparing to file for IPOs, Bloomberg News has reported.