JAKARTA — Traveloka, Indonesia’s answer to Expedia and one of Indonesia’s unicorn startups valued at over $1 billion, is looking to list in the U.S. this year using a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, its CEO Ferry Unardi said.
Unardi, who is also co-founder of the company, told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday: “This year, we’re ready” for a public listing. The company experienced a difficult 2020, with COVID-19 and travel restrictions hampering its businesses. It laid off around 100 people last April.
But Unardi said Traveloka’s core travel business turned a profit last year despite the coronavirus pandemic. “The market is ready. And we hope [a listing] will happen sooner rather than later,” he said.
Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s largest online travel startup, is considering various ways of going public, including a SPAC, Unardi said. A SPAC is a “blank-check” company where…
