Toku seeks brand recognition in fight with giants with Catalist listing

[SINGAPORE] A listing on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) will raise the profile of Toku’s customer experience platform when it pitches to prospective large enterprise customers.

“For any procurement team, it’s easier to explain after the whole process that you selected Cisco because it’s a known name…very different to say we’ve selected Toku and then explain what Toku is,” said Thomas Laboulle, founder and chief executive officer.

Toku will be offering 65 million shares at S$0.25 per share, comprising 63 million placement shares and two million public offer shares with a market capitalisation of S$142.6 million post-listing. The company will raise net proceeds of S$13.7 million, which will be used for expansion of its artificial intelligence-powered customer experience platform, tech development and potential mergers and acquisitions as well as general working capital.

PrimePartners Corporate Finance is the sponsor, issue manager, underwriter and co-placement agent for the initial public offering.

Toku helps companies glean insights from its customers across channels such as voice, chat and e-mail, with its AI being able to transcribe, summarise and analyse conversations for sentiment. The company’s customers are large enterprises that require customisation and software that adapts to them and not the other way round, making name recognition key to winning more contracts.

The company now operates out of 34 markets across three regions of Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. Toku has been able to replicate its Asia-Pacific success first in Latin America, before rolling out in the Middle East and North Africa just before the new year.

Europe is also not too far off in Toku’s sales pipeline, as Laboulle noted the emergence of new opportunities in that region.

Expanding into new geographies has driven revenue growth for Toku, with revenue growing each year from US$21.6 million in FY2022 to US$28.8 million in FY2023 to US$31.8 million in FY2024. While losses also grew in tandem with the revenue growth, from US$4 million in FY2022 to US$4.5 million in FY2023 to US$5.3 million in FY2024, the company is already looking at efficiency gains to bring costs down.

Losses for the first half of 2025 were lower at US$1.3 million compared to the first half of 2024 at US$5.5 million. But Laboulle noted that building a global software player cannot be done overnight without investing.

“We could have been profitable already for a few years, but then it means staying as a small and medium enterprise, and limiting geographic expansion and growth pace – that is not the ambition the company has,” he said.

Toku has a clear path to profitability, and part of that is scaling to the right level. Expecting an immediate return on investment from a new region is unrealistic, and Laboulle is confident of Toku’s order book of US$23.4 million and sales pipeline.

Post-listing, the company will execute its expansion plans, going deeper into current markets and expanding into new ones in the regions where they are present. Toku will also be building its sales channels, having done direct sales to customers for the last eight years.

Credibility on the commercial front would be given a boost through the listing, which will help to attract and secure large enterprise customers. Being listed will remove the stamp of startup, which Laboulle said the company has outgrown after being around for the last eight years.

“We need to build out a channel partner programme, it’s actually a big part of the use of proceeds,” he said.

Now that Toku has a track record in customers, the offering will start to attract partners that can unlock more growth and geographical expansion.

After its listing, Toku will optimise its technology offering and look for potential merger and acquisition opportunities. The bulk of the proceeds, at S$4.5 million, has been set aside for potential acquisitions.

“I’m a big believer of organic growth and the roll-up strategy, especially when it comes to international growth,” said Laboulle.

Why Catalist

The choice of SGX over exchanges in Hong Kong and the US was mainly due to Toku being founded and headquartered in Singapore.

Questions were raised by its investors over the location choice when the decision to list was made in 2024. But the performance of the Singapore market coupled with the Equity Market Development Programme measures were positive factors.

Also, its lack of presence in the US and Canada along with financials that are below average compared to companies listed in the US would make listing there a premature decision, said Laboulle.

The positive news on SGX in 2025 made it more visible to Toku’s investors as well, changing the tone of the conversations in 2025 compared to 2024.

“The SGX listing is not an exit at all for us, it’s part of using the listing as a stepping stone to accelerate the journey,” said Laboulle.

Applications for Toku’s shares will close at noon on Jan 20, and trading will begin when the market opens on Jan 22.