Oh man, oh man. Word on the street is that Thai unicorn Line Man Wongnai is looking to acquire foodpanda's Thailand operations.

• Line Man Wongnai considered a $100M deal but that value has likely changed because of market conditions and the views toward loss-making businesses.
• Haven't put a ring on it. Things aren't final, and the talks to acquire foodpanda Thailand may still fall through.

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😮 Who's the man?

LINE MAN Wongnai is Thailand's latest unicorn. They're a food delivery firm that raised a $265M Series B in September. They're also backed by firms like GIC, LINE Corporation and early PayPal and Waze investor BRV Capital Management.

• LINE MAN launched in Thailand in 2016 as an on-demand services app.
• LINE MAN Wongnai was born in 2020 out of a merger (no, not a JV) between LINE MAN and Wongnai, a restaurant review platform.
• Their monthly orders for food delivery have grown over 15x between January 2020–August 2022.

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😜 The feeling's mutual

LINE MAN Wongnai wants to rise up among the ranks of Thai food delivery startups — and acquiring foodpanda Thailand will let them do that.

It's a win-win. At the same time, Delivery Hero (foodpanda's parent firm) is looking to speed up their plans to reach profitability by 2023. And exiting some markets is part of that plan.

Delivery Hero's CEO, Niklas Oestberg, mentioned they have strong positions in countries like the Philippines and Malaysia. But, he said they might exit some markets (and other regions outside of SEA) where they are not among the top players.

• Staying in the SEAs. While they may exit some SEA markets, he also made it clear they're not exiting SEA.

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🗣 People talking

LINE MAN Wongnai's potential deal with foodpanda has got people talking — will Grab consider acquiring some assets?

Grab's CFO's words in their earnings call last month seem to point to a no since he mentioned they're focused on organic growth and cash preservation. Oh, and he added they have high standards for M&A.