Garena Raises New Funding Round to Accelerate Growth
Singapore – Garena, Southeast Asia's largest Internet and Mobile platform company, today announced it has closed a new round of funding. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) led the round, which also included several existing shareholders.
Since the 2010 launch of its first product Garena+, an online game and social platform, Garena has seen unprecedented growth, quickly becoming the leading platform provider for digital entertainment, communication tools, and digital payments across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Garena's revenues have grown over the past five years to over $US 200 million. Today, Garena has over 17 million and 11 million monthly active users across its PC and mobile platforms, respectively.
"At Garena, we focus on bringing joy and convenience to people across Asia through the power of our technology platform," said Forrest Li, Garena's Group CEO and Founder. "We aspire to make the world an ever more connected community through innovative products and services."
Garena's core market of Greater Southeast Asia, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, has a $3.5 trillion GDP and is home to over 650 million people. A majority of the population are mobile phone users and over 200 million are Internet users.
"Garena's core market is set to be the world's next major growth market for Internet and Mobile, and within that ecosystem Garena is the fastest growing company we have seen," commented Michael Wissell, OTPP Senior Vice President of Public Equities. "Garena also has an impressive management team that combines world-class experience with a truly international outlook."
Garena today also announced the hiring of Nicholas Nash as its President. Nash, who joined the Company in December 2014, was an executive with the global private equity firm General Atlantic for over a decade and co-founded and led its Southeast Asia business. Prior to joining General Atlantic in 2002, Nash was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
"Garena's core values of customer service, entrepreneurial adaptation, rapid innovation, professional commitment, and constant humility are the foundation for its sustainable success," said Nash. "I am delighted to be joining Forrest and his team to support the company's next chapter of growth."
About Garena
Headquartered in Singapore, Garena was founded in 2009 by Forrest Li and his friends as they aspired to transform their passion for entrepreneurship into a great company. Forrest named the company "Garena," a play on the words "global arena". Since its inception, Garena has seen unprecedented growth and become a leading platform provider for online and mobile entertainment and communication across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, serving millions of users.
The combination of PC and mobile, content and communications, and microtransactions and payments is the foundation of Garena's compelling value proposition to both its millions of users and its trusted content and e-commerce partners.