Southeast Asian super-app Seize achieved a major milestone in 2025: for the primary time since going public, it recorded a internet revenue. Whereas audited monetary outcomes have but to be launched, the ride-hailing and supply large launched preliminary earnings for 2025, displaying it turned a full-year revenue of $200 million.
Seize has been on a path towards profitability for a while, with losses narrowing from over $1.7 billion in 2022 to only $158 million in 2024. Final 12 months, the agency, which is headquartered in Singapore however listed on the Nasdaq, lastly pushed into the black.
How did they do it? Huge market share throughout Southeast Asia. The whole worth of supply and ride-hailing transactions carried out via the app elevated 21 % 12 months over 12 months, from $18 billion in 2024 to $22 billion in 2025. Month-to-month customers elevated as effectively, from 41 million to 47 million.
This led to a rise in income of round 20 %. In complete, the corporate introduced in practically $3.4 billion in 2025. With working bills remaining tightly managed, Seize lastly joined its regional competitor Sea (guardian firm of Shopee) within the revenue column.
Apparently, whereas the corporate turned a revenue, its money from operations truly decreased. In 2024, working money circulation was $852 million. Final 12 months, it shrank to only $79 million. In line with Seize, it’s because they stepped up digital financing actions, with their mortgage portfolio leaping 120 % to almost $1.2 billion by the tip of 2025.
This evidently strained their working money circulation as cash was paid out to new debtors. In fact, as with many tech unicorns, money is just not actually an issue for Seize. Regardless of accrued losses of $17.5 billion on their steadiness sheet, Seize ended the 12 months with virtually $3.5 billion in money readily available.
Seize’s path towards profitability displays broader developments in Southeast Asia’s consumer-facing tech ecosystem. Go-Jek, Seize, and Sea all burst onto the scene a couple of decade in the past, sucking up big flows of enterprise capital whereas increasing their market share and shedding monumental quantities of cash. In brief order, every of those firms went public: Seize and Sea in the US and Go-Jek in Indonesia.
However being publicly listed uncovered them to ever better scrutiny. Below stress from shareholders, they began reducing bills in an effort to transform their dominant market place right into a worthwhile enterprise mannequin. Sea reached profitability first, primarily as a result of losses in e-commerce have been offset by its worthwhile gaming arm.
Seize, which has no equally worthwhile section to cross-subsidize losses in supply and ride-hailing, needed to eke out earnings the old school approach: via intense competitors with rivals like Go-Jek, making changes to its income and enterprise mannequin and reducing bills. Final 12 months, it lastly joined Sea within the ranks of worthwhile Southeast Asian tech giants.
The opposite factor we’re seeing is that digital finance is changing into an more and more vital a part of the enterprise mannequin. Seize and Go-Jek each began as ride-hailing and supply apps, steadily including digital monetary providers. Now Seize’s mortgage portfolio is over $1 billion, and it’s backing one of many area’s bigger digital banks.
Each Sea and Go-Jek have their very own digital banks as effectively, that are additionally competing for market share. Deliveries and ride-hailing helped these platforms change into indispensable to many customers throughout the area, however the path to sustainable earnings might finally run via providers with greater margins like digital finance.
The opposite factor Seize is doing now that it’s within the black is attempting to consolidate its market place by shopping for its primary competitor. Rumors of Seize’s intention to accumulate GoTo, guardian firm of Go-Jek, for round $7 billion have been within the air for a while. The merger discuss acquired a shot within the arm lately when Indonesian state-owned funding fund Danantara indicated it may be eager on a deal so long as it retained some management or possession within the new entity. We must wait and see the way it all performs out.
But when Go-Jek and Seize had been to merge, it could drastically remake the consumer-facing tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia. The lengthy sport right here was at all times to broaden market share even at a loss, then pivot to effectivity and earnings later. We’re at the moment within the pivot section, with Seize and Go-Jek competing fairly intensely to supply incentives and improved providers to customers.
If Seize had been to accumulate Go-Jek, this aggressive market stress wouldn’t solely evaporate, it could depart in its wake only a single ride-hailing and supply behemoth straddling the area (there are others, however a merged Go-Jek Seize entity would dwarf them). Provided that Seize has solely simply now lastly turned a relatively modest revenue, after a few years of cautious cost-cutting and below aggressive market stress, one can see why, if supplied the selection, they would favor to easily purchase their primary rival.
