What happened
Shares of Sea Limited (SE -0.69%) surged by 38% in the first half of 2021, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The e-commerce company has seen its stock hitting new all-time highs as it continues to expand in both Asia and Latin America.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Sea Limited reported stellar revenue growth last year, with its e-commerce and gaming divisions boosted by the pandemic, as more people shopped online and turned to online games to relieve boredom. Revenue doubled year over year in 2020 to $4.4 billion, and the company's growth momentum looks set to continue into 2021 as it reported an even stronger fiscal first quarter. Revenue surged by 146.7% year over year to $1.8 billion, while gross profit tripled year over year to $654.4 million.
Garena, the company's digital entertainment arm, is witnessing a healthy 61% year-over-year growth in quarterly active users to 648.8 million. More importantly, quarterly paying users have more than doubled year over year to 79.8 million, showcasing the strong momentum the division has enjoyed in garnering more paying customers. Sea Limited's e-commerce division, Shopee, saw gross orders jump from 400 million to 1.1 billion during the quarter, with gross merchandise value doubling year over year to $12.6 billion.
Now what
According to App Annie, Garena's Free Fire was the highest-grossing game in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India for the first quarter of 2021. The massively popular game continued to rank as the highest-grossing mobile game on Google's Play Store for June, showcasing Garena's dominance in the gaming arena.
Shopee recently launched a new customer management tool known as Shopee Mall Brand Memberships, allowing the e-commerce site to deepen its engagement with customers and drive more repeat purchases. This loyalty program has been rolled out across seven Asian markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, and it can tap on data mining to obtain insights into customers' profiles, shopping habits, and preferences.
