Hong Kong
CNN Enterprise
—
Taiwan’s newest entrant to Wall Avenue has had a tough experience because it went public every week in the past.
Shares of Good Corp., a software program firm that enables customers to nearly attempt on make-up or jewellery from manufacturers akin to Estée Lauder, LVMH and Shiseido, have fallen greater than 40% from their itemizing worth since they started buying and selling on the New York Inventory Trade every week in the past.
Good Corp. lends its know-how to magnificence and trend manufacturers. It makes use of augmented actuality and synthetic intelligence to assist customers take a look at merchandise on-line earlier than they purchase them.
The agency’s valuation rose to roughly $1 billion after merging with Provident Acquisition Corp., a particular function acquisition firm (SPAC), days earlier than its itemizing. Shares of the newly mixed enterprise started buying and selling final Monday below the ticker image “PERF,” and have since slid about 46% from the opening worth of $15.80.
The broader S&P 500 index has misplaced roughly 14% within the final 5 days, in keeping with information supplier Refinitiv Eikon.
SPACs are shell corporations with restricted or no working property. They normally go public solely to boost cash from traders that’s then used to purchase current companies.
Daniel Ives, managing director and senior fairness analyst of Wedbush Securities, stated traders might be cautious about Good Corp. as a result of “in a risk-off market, an augmented actuality play with Taiwanese roots is a glass-half-empty title.”
“Tech shares throughout the board have been weak and any geopolitical added dangers will probably be a priority on this market,” he advised CNN Enterprise.
Taiwan is a self-governed democratic island that the Communist management in Beijing has lengthy claimed as a part of its territory, regardless of having by no means dominated over it. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this yr, some overseas traders have expressed concerns over the danger that China might enhance its navy pressure towards Taiwan.
Good Corp. stated it raised roughly $119 million within the deal.
The corporate selected to listing in the US as a result of a lot of its clientele is predicated there, founder and CEO Alice Chang stated in an interview with CNN Enterprise. She stated that she was sporting her personal “digital make-up” and digital earrings on the video name.
Chang began Good Corp. in 2015 as a part of a unit at Cyberlink, a tech firm in Taiwan, which later spun it off as a separate enterprise. Cyberlink continues to be one of many agency’s traders, together with international manufacturers akin to Chanel, Goldman Sachs
(GS) and Snap
(SNAP).
Chang stated the corporate would use the proceeds from its SPAC merger to increase in Southeast Asia, fund analysis and growth, and double down on new capabilities of its know-how, akin to letting customers attempt on equipment past jewellery.
“We simply joined jewellery, trend,” she stated. “That is only the start.”
Good Corp. is a part of the software-as-a-service business. The agency now has workplaces in cities world wide, together with New York, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai, and caters to greater than 450 manufacturers, stated Chang.
It introduced in $40.8 million in income final yr, and is aiming for gross sales of more than $100 million by 2024, in keeping with regulatory filings.
It began with a selfie, in keeping with Chang.
About 9 years in the past, Chang would regularly take images of herself to share with family and friends, and sometimes discovered herself wishing there was a manner for customers to immediately polish their appearances. The thought finally led to a cell app known as YouCam, which permits customers to immediately retouch their pores and skin with out trying “pretend,” she stated.
The query was: “How can I hyperlink the digital magnificence with the actual world magnificence?” Chang recalled. “I consider for those who let [the] consumer attempt extra, they’ll purchase extra.”
That speculation has carried the corporate ahead on its pitch to manufacturers, whilst in style shopper platforms akin to Instagram supply related filtering know-how.
Good Corp. is considered one of a handful of Taiwanese corporations to listing in the US lately, in keeping with Dealogic information.
Its arrival comes simply months after Gogoro (GGR), a Taiwanese electrical scooter startup backed by Al Gore and considered one of Apple’s greatest suppliers, had its own day on Wall Street. The corporate additionally went public in New York this April after merging with a SPAC, elevating at the very least $335 million in money on the time. Its shares are down 68% thus far this yr.