Malaysian payments tech startup Super Apps to go public in the US via a $1.1 billion SPAC deal

Super Apps Holdings announced it will go public in the United States through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with  Technology & Telecommunication Acquisition Corporation in a deal that values the Malaysian payments technology firm at $1.1 billion, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Super Apps becomes the latest startup to jump on the SPAC bandwagon following months of decline in the SPAC space due to the ongoing global economic turmoil,  market volatility, and weak stock performance of merged companies.

Before the close of the deal, Super Apps said it will buy 60% of fintech firm MobilityOne’s stake in OneShop Retail to position the combined company to be a leading payments systems provider in the ASEAN market. With operations based in Malaysia, Super Apps will also have a geographic advantage for expanding into the ASEAN market.

The combined company will be named TETE Technologies Inc. and will apply for listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker TETE. Super Apps said it will use the proceeds from the public offering to “build out its technology infrastructure to support demand from blue chip customers in the fast-growing e-commerce payment solutions market and enhance revenue.”

As part of the agreement, Super Apps CEO Loo See Yuen and the existing management team will lead the combined company while Tek Che Ng and Loke Chow Wing from the Technology & Telecommunication Acquisition Corporation team will become new board members.

In a statement, Loo See Yuen, Chief Executive Officer of Super Apps, said, “We are excited to enter the public markets through our business combination with TETE. The proceeds from the business combination, combined with our leadership team’s significant fintech industry experience, will allow Super Apps to accelerate growth in revenue through the expansion of its workforce, including sales and marketing headcount. We believe this transaction will enable us to continue investing in our technology infrastructure and deliver on our aspirations to be the unrivaled payment systems provider in the ASEAN market.”

Mr. Ng Tek Che, the Chairman and CEO of TETE, added, “From the many companies under consideration by TETE, our goal was to find a company with a stand-out technology that met our criteria for investing in long-term sustainability for the ASEAN market.

Sometimes called a blank-check company, SPAC is a shell company that has no operations but plans to go public with the intention of acquiring or merging with a company utilizing the proceeds of the SPAC IPOs.

So far this year, SPACs account for 82 out of the 107 US initial public offerings (IPOs), according to data from the SPAC analytics firm, SPACAnalytics.com. The De-SPAC Index, which tracks some of these companies, is down over 50% so far this year.