asxFrontier Digital Ventures (FDV), an operator of online classified businesses in emerging markets, has successfully raised A$30 million ($22.8 million) in an oversubscribed Initial Public Offer (IPO) through the issue of 60,000,000 shares at A$0.50 per share.

It commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today under the symbol “FDV”. The corporation maintains a portfolio of 15 operating companies, each of which are claimed to be market leaders with an early-stage advantage in either the online car, property or general classifieds space.

online marketplace businesses represent a compelling opportunity riding on increasing smartphone penetration and high GDP growth across 19 emerging markets ranging from Pakistan and Myanmar, to Nigeria, Ghana and Morocco. The company’s founding shareholders, Shaun Di Gregorio and Catcha Group, have been working together now for over six years with a proven track record in building market leading businesses.

Frontier Digital Ventures founder and CEO Shaun Di Gregorio commented: “Today marks an exciting and important milestone for Frontier, and we are thrilled to be making our public debut on the Australian Stock Exchange. The strong demand by institutions and professional investors is a strong vote of confidence in Frontier’s growth strategy.”

emerging markets, also termed as pre-emerging markets, represent a tremendous opportunity, with a combined 648 million mobile users and a combined GDP of $3.6 trillion. These markets can be characterised by political instability, poor liquidity, inadequate regulation, substandard financial reporting and large currency fluctuations.

According to Morgan Stanley, some of these countries – termed frontier emerging markets – are Pakistan, Argentina, Kuwait, Vietnam, Romania, Kenya, Bangladesh and Egypt.

FDV claims to be uniquely positioned to capitalise on its exposure to this combined market of 1.7 billion people in rapidly growing markets being driven by increased connectivity.

Additionally, the company has a proven executive management team with a track record in online marketplace spanning more than 40 countries across 5 continents over the last 18 years. – Deal Street Asia