KUALA LUMPUR – AirAsia Group Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes claims the group’s digital businesses, valued at more than US$1 billion (RM4.17 billion), have achieved unicorn status in record time.
In a statement, Fernandes said AirAsia Group should no longer be known as just an airline following its push over the past two years to grow its non-airline businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are now a digital services group. Mark my words: We are going to be a major player in the Asean digital economy.
“Our competitors are already taking notice and the best is yet to come, with new innovations and partnerships to be announced soon that will really shake up the industry, the way we revolutionised the Asean airline industry 20 years ago.”
A start-up is deemed a unicorn upon receiving a valuation of US$1 billion.
AirAsia Digital Sdn Bhd is the holding company for the group’s digital business assets which include 100%-owned AirAsia Data Sdn Bhd and AirAsia Superapp Sdn Bhd, 99.56%-owned Big Pay Pte Ltd, and 82.17%-owned Teleport Everywhere Pte Ltd.
“From the outset, we have always been a digital company. We were the first in Asean to sell airline tickets online and handle digital payments for many millions of first time online users 20 years ago.
“Our major transformation journey began over two years ago, before Covid hit, when I realised we have huge assets in our brand, our data and our people. If the pandemic has done anything positive, it has helped us to fast-track our transformation plans and the opportunity is huge, with over 700 million people in Southeast Asia and one of the fastest growing digital populations.”
Fernandes’ statement follows the inclusion of AirAsia Digital in Credit Suisse’s October 5 report on Southeast Asian unicorns.
The research house said AirAsia Digital established its “unicorn” status through an all-share transaction in July this year when it acquired 100% of Go-jek Thailand for US$40 million and 100% of Velox Fintech for US$10 million in exchange for 4.76% shares in the AirAsia Superapp.
“This effectively values AirAsia Digital’s super app at US$1.05 billion (this excludes the value of BigPay and Teleport),” Credit Suisse said.
Aside from AirAsia Digital, other Malaysian companies named in the report are Carsome and Axiata’s tower business edotco. – The Vibes, October 12, 2021
