Sea Limited (SE) Business Model Canvas

Sea Limited (SE): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

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You're looking to map out exactly how Sea Limited (SE) turns its sprawling digital empire-from the Shopee marketplace to the Garena gaming powerhouse-into profit, right? Honestly, understanding this integrated ecosystem is key to valuing the stock today, especially when you see flagship game Free Fire still pulling in 661.8 million quarterly active users as of Q1 2025, or the Monee loan book hitting $7.9 billion. I've broken down their entire engine-partnerships, activities, and revenue streams-into the classic nine blocks so you can see the mechanics behind their growth strategy, so dive in below to see the full picture.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the strategic alliances Sea Limited has forged to fuel its growth across e-commerce, digital entertainment, and fintech as of late 2025. These partnerships are critical because they directly impact user acquisition, operational efficiency, and monetization across the entire ecosystem.

MOU with OpenAI for AI Adoption and Shopee VIP Benefits

Sea Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with OpenAI around August 2025 to integrate next-generation AI into its digital ecosystem, focusing on commerce, payments, and distribution. This builds upon the February 2025 launch of Sea's AI agent platform, Operator. The immediate, tangible benefit for the e-commerce side, Shopee, is a loyalty play: starting August 8, 2025, during the 8.8 Sales Campaign, Shopee VIP loyalty program members in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam receive three months of complimentary access to ChatGPT Plus. This move aims to equip small businesses and consumers with premium AI tools, which is important as AI is projected to contribute $120 billion to the Southeast Asian GDP by 2027.

Strategic Collaboration with YouTube to Drive E-commerce Shopping Orders

The alliance with YouTube is clearly driving traffic directly to Shopee listings. As of June 2025 (Q2 2025), more than 7 million YouTube videos featured Shopee product links across Southeast Asia. That figure represented an increase of more than 50% quarter-on-quarter, showing rapid adoption of this shopping integration channel. This effort helps Shopee deepen its content ecosystem and compete with livestreaming rivals.

Global Game Developers/Publishers and Intellectual Property Holders

Garena's strategy relies heavily on high-impact Intellectual Property (IP) collaborations to maintain the longevity of its flagship title, Free Fire. The partnership with the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN IP holder proved phenomenal; the January 2025 collaboration drove Free Fire's average Daily Active Users (DAU) in the first quarter of 2025 close to its peak quarterly average during the pandemic. Garena continued this success, anchoring its strong Q3 2025 performance with the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Chapter 2 event. While Garena also publishes titles like EA Sports FC Online, it is worth noting that Electronic Arts (EA) itself was reportedly acquired for $55 billion in September 2025, which could influence future licensing dynamics.

Here's a snapshot of the performance metrics tied to these ecosystem partnerships as of late 2025:

Partnership/Metric Area Key Business Segment Latest Real-Life Figure (2025)
Shopee Product Links on YouTube E-commerce 7 million videos as of June 2025
AI VIP Benefit Rollout E-commerce/AI 3-month ChatGPT Plus for VIPs in 3 countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam)
IP Collaboration Impact (NARUTO) Digital Entertainment Drove Q1 2025 DAU near pandemic peak
Logistics Revenue Growth (SPX Express) E-commerce Logistics 14% year-on-year growth in 2025
Loan Book Size (Monee/SeaMoney) Digital Financial Services $6.9 billion outstanding as of end of June 2025

Logistics and Payment Providers Across Southeast Asia and Latin America

Sea Limited's investment in its in-house logistics arm, SPX Express, is a core partnership enabler, reducing reliance on third parties and improving customer experience. This infrastructure investment helped reduce logistics costs per order across Asia and Brazil. SPX Express's logistics revenue hit $799 million in 2025. Shopee maintains market leadership in Southeast Asia and Taiwan and is the market leader by order volume in Brazil. On the payments side, the Monee (formerly SeaMoney) financial services arm is deeply integrated. As of the end of June 2025 (Q2 2025), consumer and SME loans principal outstanding reached $6.9 billion, marking an increase of over 90% year-on-year. The risk management appears tight, with the 90-day non-performing loan (NPL) ratio reported as low as 1% in Q2 2025.

The synergy across these partners is evident in the financial results. For instance, core marketplace revenue for Shopee (transaction fees and advertising) was $2.6 billion in Q2 2025, up 46% year-on-year, showing strong monetization of the user base driven by these integrated services.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

Deepening monetization via higher e-commerce take rates and seller ads.

Shopee's core marketplace revenue, which includes advertising revenue, increased by 46.2% year-on-year to $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025. For the third quarter of 2025, e-commerce GAAP revenue was $3.8 billion, marking a 36.6% increase from the third quarter of 2024. Management noted enhanced monetization strategies in the fourth quarter of 2024 led to a significant jump in ad revenue and an improved ad take rate.

  • Shopee full-year 2025 GMV growth expected to be more than 25%.
  • Shopee Q3 2025 Gross Orders: 3.6 billion, up 28.4% year-on-year.
  • Shopee Q3 2025 GMV: $32.2 billion, up 28.4% year-on-year.

Developing and publishing localized, high-quality digital games (Garena).

Garena delivered a stellar third quarter of 2025, with bookings up 51.1% year-on-year to $840.7 million, its best quarter since 2021. The company remains on track to achieve more than 30% year-on-year growth in bookings for the full year 2025.

Metric Q3 2025 Value Year-on-Year Change
Garena Bookings $840.7 million up 51.1%
Garena GAAP Revenue $653.0 million up 31.2%
Garena Adjusted EBITDA $465.9 million up 48.2%
Quarterly Active Users 670.8 million up 6.7%
Quarterly Paying Users 65.9 million up 31.2%

Building and managing a proprietary logistics network (Shopee Express).

SPX Express handles the majority of Shopee's several billion parcels annually. The company invested nearly $1 billion in 2022 to build out its logistics infrastructure. The logistics arm's market share in Southeast Asia's logistics sector grew to about 25% by 2024.

  • SPX Express logistics revenue reached $799 million in 2025.
  • Logistics revenue growth in 2025 was 14% year-on-year.
  • Investment in in-house delivery reduced logistics costs by 6% in Asia and 21% in Brazil.

Underwriting and servicing consumer and SME credit (Monee loan book $7.9 billion).

As of September 30, 2025, consumer and SME loans principal outstanding for Monee reached $7.9 billion, representing a 69.8% year-on-year increase. The non-performing loans (NPL) ratio for the loan book remained steady at 1.1% in Q3 2025. Monee's Q3 2025 GAAP revenue was $989.9 million, up 60.8% year-on-year.

Monee Loan Book Detail (Q3 2025) Amount Context
Total Loans Principal Outstanding $7.9 billion up 69.8% YoY
On-book Loans $6.9 billion Held on Sea's balance sheet
Off-book Loans $0.9 billion Channeling arrangements
Non-Performing Loans (NPL 90+) Ratio 1.1% Held steady from Q2 2025

Investing in AI to improve ad efficiency and credit risk models.

Sea Limited is expanding the use of Artificial Intelligence in commerce for personalized search, automated customer service, and smarter ad and merchandising tools, aiming to enhance spend efficiency. Monee uses AI in its credit models to underwrite with precision. Furthermore, Sea and the National University of Singapore (NUS) officially opened the Sea Building and Sea Connect at the NUS School of Computing in January 2025, following a S$50 million gift for research in areas like artificial intelligence and data science.

  • AI enables faster content creation and iteration in the Gaming business.
  • AI-assisted coding and automated testing are reducing costs in game development.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

The Key Resources for Sea Limited are centered around its integrated digital platforms and significant financial backing as of late 2025.

The proprietary, integrated digital ecosystem spans three core segments: Digital Entertainment through Garena, E-commerce via Shopee, and Digital Financial Services through Monee (SeaMoney).

The flagship game, Free Fire, continues to anchor the Digital Entertainment segment. For the third quarter of 2025, the Group reported 670.8 million quarterly active users (QAU). This user base supported Garena bookings surging 51.1% year-on-year to $840.7 million in Q3 2025.

The extensive first-party logistics infrastructure supports Shopee, which achieved a quarterly Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $32.2 billion in Q3 2025, up 28.4% year-over-year.

The large, sticky user base is evidenced across the platforms:

  • Group Quarterly Active Users (Q3 2025): 670.8 million.
  • Shopee Quarterly Gross Orders (Q3 2025): 3.6 billion.
  • Monee Active Borrowers (Q3 2025): 34 million people, up 45% year-on-year.
  • Monee Loan Book Principal Outstanding (Q3 2025): $7.9 billion.

Sea Limited maintains substantial liquidity for strategic investment. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments totaled approximately $11.9 billion as of September 30, 2025.

Here are key operational and financial metrics from the third quarter of 2025:

Metric Segment Value (Q3 2025)
Total GAAP Revenue Group $6.0 billion
Bookings Digital Entertainment (Garena) $840.7 million
GMV E-commerce (Shopee) $32.2 billion
GAAP Revenue Digital Financial Services (Monee) $989.9 million
Adjusted EBITDA Group $874.3 million
Net Income Group $375.0 million

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Sea Limited offers across its three main pillars as of late 2025, based on the latest reported numbers from the third quarter ending September 30, 2025. The entire structure is built around reinforcing these propositions through integration.

Shopee: Affordable, Reliable E-commerce

Shopee's value proposition centers on scale and improving service quality, which translates directly into transaction volume. For the third quarter of 2025, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) hit $32.2 billion, marking a 28.4% year-over-year increase. This volume was built on 3.6 billion Gross Orders, also up 28.4% year-over-year. The platform's focus on monetization, through things like advertising, is clear: Core Marketplace Revenue, which includes ads, grew 52.8% year-over-year to $3.1 billion. Honestly, the commitment to service is shown by the investment in logistics and fulfillment, even if it compressed the GAAP margin to 0.6% for the quarter. Management is confident enough to raise the full-year 2025 GMV growth guidance to >25%.

Garena: High-Quality, Localized, Free-to-Play Gaming

For Garena, the value is in high-engagement content that drives user spending, not just user count. Bookings, which represent cash spent by users, surged 51.1% year-over-year to $840.7 million in Q3 2025, marking its best quarter since 2021. This growth was fueled by deep-dive IP events like the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN collaboration. While Quarterly Active Users (QAU) grew 6.7% year-over-year to 670.8 million, the paying user base expanded even faster at 31.2% year-over-year, reaching 65.9 million. This segment acts as a high-margin engine, delivering an Adjusted EBITDA of $465.9 million, up 48.2% year-over-year.

Monee: Accessible Digital Financial Services

Monee provides essential financial access, particularly credit, to a region with low traditional banking penetration. Its GAAP revenue grew a massive 60.8% year-over-year to $989.9 million in Q3 2025. The core offering is credit, with the total Consumer and SME loans principal outstanding reaching $7.9 billion, a 70% year-over-year increase. The value here is the combination of accessibility and quality control; the 90-day Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio remained stable at 1.1%.

SME Support via Credit, Logistics, and Digital Advertising Tools

Sea Limited supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by integrating them into the ecosystem's financial and commercial rails. The credit offering is a key part of this, with the latest loan book standing at $7.9 billion as of September 30, 2025, which includes SME credit. Furthermore, the growth in Shopee's Core Marketplace Revenue, which includes digital advertising tools for sellers, grew 52.8% year-over-year to $3.1 billion in the quarter.

Integrated Ecosystem for Seamless Cross-Platform Transactions

The real value proposition is the multiplicative synergy between the three businesses, creating an "Ecosystem Fortress". This integration is concrete, not just abstract. Shopee drives the user traffic that Monee underwrites loans against, and Monee reduces friction for Shopee users via services like Pay Later. The financial results of Q3 2025 show this working: Group GAAP Revenue was $6.0 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA was $874.3 million. The entire group's Net Income more than doubled to $375.0 million.

Here's a quick look at the segment financial scale supporting these propositions in Q3 2025:

Segment Key Financial Metric Amount (US$) Year-over-Year Change
Shopee (E-commerce) GMV $32.2 billion +28.4%
Shopee (E-commerce) EBITDA $186.1 million More than fivefold increase
Garena (Digital Entertainment) Bookings $840.7 million +51.1%
Monee (Digital Financial Services) GAAP Revenue $989.9 million +60.8%
Monee (Digital Financial Services) Loans Principal Outstanding $7.9 billion +70%

Finance: draft Q4 2025 cash flow projection by next Tuesday.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Sea Limited keeps its massive user base engaged across Shopee, Garena, and Monee as of late 2025. It's all about integration and data-driven personalization, so let's dive into the hard numbers that define these relationships.

Automated self-service via in-app customer support systems

While direct metrics on automated self-service systems aren't always public, the operational focus clearly points to improving the customer experience through efficiency. For instance, in Q3 2025, Sea Limited reported that delivery speed improved sequentially, with average delivery time getting better by about two days compared to a year ago in certain areas like Greater São Paulo. This focus on logistics quality is a form of proactive customer service. Furthermore, platform stability is a key relationship factor; online purchasing through Shopee in 2025 emphasized more reliable voucher pre-checks, reducing load failures during peak times. Management's stated priority is enhancing service quality to drive growth.

Dedicated Shopee VIP loyalty programs with enhanced benefits

Shopee's VIP membership is a clear strategy to deepen relationships with high-value customers. By the end of June 2025, total VIP subscribers across the expanded markets reached 2 million. This segment shows strong financial impact; in Indonesia alone, VIP GMV grew nearly 50% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2025. The program has since rolled out to Thailand and Vietnam. A major enhancement in Q3 2025 involved a partnership with OpenAI, where new Shopee VIP subscribers in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam could redeem three months of complimentary access to ChatGPT Plus starting August 8, 2025. This reinvestment into VIP programs is seen as a strategy funded from a position of strength.

Community building through in-game events and eSports leagues

Garena maintains its community through high-impact content and competitive play. In Q3 2025, Garena delivered its best bookings quarter since 2021, hitting US$840.7 million, which was up 51.1% year-on-year. This engagement is anchored by flagship titles like Free Fire, which sustained its user base through collaborations such as the Squid Game and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Chapter 2 campaigns. The active user base reflects this community scale:

Metric Q3 2025 Value Year-on-Year Change
Quarterly Active Users (QAUs) 670.8 million Up 6.7%
Quarterly Paying Users 65.9 million Up 31.2%
Paying User Ratio 9.8% Up from 8.0% in Q3 2024

The segment remains on track to achieve more than 30% year-on-year growth in bookings for the full year 2025.

Personalized recommendations driven by AI for commerce and gaming

Sea Limited uses its ecosystem data to power personalization across platforms. For Shopee commerce, AI drives advertising effectiveness; in Q2 2025, the number of sellers using ad products rose by 20%, and their average ad spend increased by over 40% year-on-year. This suggests more effective, personalized ad placements. Furthermore, Sea announced an MOU with OpenAI in August 2025 to advance AI use, specifically mentioning opportunities in commerce. In gaming, Garena is committed to trying out new genres and testing boundaries by embracing AI to enhance player experience.

Credit scoring and risk management for Monee users

Monee's relationship with users is built on data-driven credit access. The company leverages AI-powered credit scoring models, trained on Shopee and Garena data, to manage risk while expanding lending.

  • Consumer and SME loans principal outstanding reached US$7.9 billion as of September 30, 2025.
  • This loan book grew 69.8% year-on-year as of Q3 2025.
  • Active users across consumer and SME loan products hit 34 million in Q3 2025, up nearly 45% year-on-year.
  • The platform added more than 5 million first-time borrowers in Q3 2025 by moving to an 'all-can-apply' approach.
  • Asset quality remains tight, with the 90-day NPL ratio stable at 1.1% at the end of Q3 2025.
  • Monee's GAAP revenue grew 60.8% year-on-year in Q3 2025 to US$989.9 million.

To be fair, the company is still cautious with new users; loan disbursements to new cohorts in Q3 2025 accounted for less than 10% of total disbursements, showing a deliberate underwriting process before cross-selling. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Sea Limited actually gets its products and services in front of customers as of late 2025. It's a multi-pronged approach, using digital storefronts, gaming clients, and a dedicated financial layer to keep users within the ecosystem. Here's the breakdown of the primary channels, grounded in the latest figures from the third quarter of 2025.

Shopee mobile application and e-commerce marketplace

The Shopee mobile application is the core channel for the e-commerce segment. This platform is where the bulk of the transaction volume happens. For the three months ended September 30, 2025, the scale was significant:

Metric Q3 2025 Value Year-over-Year Change
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) $32.2 billion Up 28.4%
Gross Orders 3.6 billion Up 28.4%
GAAP Revenue $4.3 billion Up 34.9%
Core Marketplace Revenue $3.1 billion Up 52.8%
Adjusted EBITDA $186.1 million Up from $34.4 million

Management expects Shopee's full-year 2025 GMV growth to be more than 25%. The marketplace revenue, which includes transaction fees and advertising, is clearly outpacing the growth in value-added services revenue, which was $0.7 million, down 6% year-on-year, partly due to increased shipping subsidies. That's a key trade-off right there.

Garena game client and mobile gaming apps (e.g., Free Fire)

Garena primarily uses its dedicated game client for PC titles and mobile gaming apps, like Free Fire, as the direct channel to its massive user base. The success of collaborations, such as Free Fire and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Chapter 2, drives engagement. For Q3 2025:

  • Bookings reached $840.7 million, a 51.1% increase year-on-year, marking the best quarter since 2021.
  • GAAP revenue was $653.0 million, up 31.2% year-on-year.
  • Adjusted EBITDA hit $465.9 million, up 48.2% year-on-year.
  • Quarterly active users stood at 670.8 million, up 6.7% year-on-year.
  • Quarterly paying users were 65.9 million, up 31.2% year-on-year.

Garena remains on track to achieve more than 30% year-on-year growth in bookings for the full year 2025.

Monee mobile wallet and financial services portal

The Monee mobile wallet and financial services portal are deeply integrated, often accessed directly through the Shopee application, but also serve standalone financial use cases. The credit business is a major driver here. As of September 30, 2025:

  • GAAP revenue for Digital Financial Services was $989.9 million, a 60.8% jump year-on-year.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $258.3 million, up 37.5% year-on-year.
  • Consumer and SME loans principal outstanding reached $7.9 billion, up 69.8% year-on-year.
  • This loan book consists of $6.9 billion on-book and $0.9 billion off-book.

The unit is extending SPayLater's reach beyond e-commerce for everyday financial use cases. The non-performing loan ratio was maintained at 1.1%.

Shopee Express (SPX) logistics and last-mile delivery network

Shopee Express (SPX) is a critical self-owned channel that underpins the e-commerce offering, focusing on last-mile efficiency. The investment in this network is substantial. By 2025, SPX Express is reported to handle more than half of total orders. The hyperlocal model, using agents like homemakers and students, has helped reduce logistics costs by 6% in Asia and 21% in Brazil. SPX's sorting centers process 400,000 parcels daily. In Asia, SPX Express already delivers around 50% of its orders within two days of order placement.

Social media and content platforms for user acquisition

While not a direct sales channel like the apps, social media and content are vital for user acquisition and engagement across the ecosystem. For Shopee, live-streaming on its platform contributes around 15% of its overall order volume for physical goods in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the e-commerce platform partners with YouTube, allowing viewers to make seamless purchases on Shopee. This content integration helps drive traffic directly into the marketplace channel.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're mapping out Sea Limited's customer base as of late 2025; it's a diverse group spanning gaming, commerce, and finance across a massive footprint in Asia and Latin America. Honestly, the key is seeing how these segments feed into each other.

Mass market consumers in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Brazil

This segment is primarily served by Shopee, which Sea Limited calls the largest pan-regional e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, with a significant presence in Brazil. The scale here is substantial, though specific 2025 active consumer counts aren't broken out by geography in the latest reports. For context on the scale they operate at, in 2023, Shopee had 295 million users, with Indonesia alone accounting for 103 million of those users. Shopee celebrated its 5-year anniversary in Brazil in Q2 2025, achieving market leadership by order volume while operating profitably in that market. The overall group revenue growth in Q3 2025, up 38.3% year-on-year to US$6.0 billion, reflects the continued engagement of this mass market.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and merchants

These are the sellers on the Shopee marketplace. Their engagement is tracked through platform usage metrics, which show strong monetization gains. In Q2 2025, the number of sellers utilizing Shopee's advertising product rose by 20% year-on-year, and their average quarterly ad spend increased by 40%. This indicates a growing reliance on Shopee's value-added services for business growth. Furthermore, the core marketplace revenue, which consists mainly of transaction-based fees and advertising revenues, grew 46.2% year-on-year to US$2.6 billion in Q2 2025. This segment is also a direct recipient of the financial services arm, Monee, as detailed below.

Digital-native, mobile-first gamers and eSports enthusiasts

Garena targets this group with its digital entertainment offerings, anchored by the flagship game, Free Fire. The user base remains massive and highly engaged. As of Q3 2025, Garena reported 670.8 million quarterly active users, marking a 6.7% year-on-year increase. Monetization is improving, with quarterly paying users reaching 65.9 million in Q3 2025, a 31.2% jump year-on-year. The paying user ratio in Q1 2025 was 9.8%, and the average bookings per user in Q1 2025 hit US$1.17. Management expects Garena bookings to grow more than 30% year-on-year for the full year 2025.

Underbanked and unbanked populations seeking credit/payments

Monee, the digital financial services arm, directly serves this segment, leveraging the Shopee ecosystem for data and distribution. This is a high-growth area. As of September 30, 2025 (Q3 end), the principal outstanding on consumer and SME loans reached US$7.9 billion, growing 69.8% year-on-year. This is a significant acceleration from the US$5.8 billion outstanding at the end of Q1 2025. The company maintains prudent risk management, with non-performing loans past due by more than 90 days remaining stable at 1.1% as of Q3 2025. The GAAP revenue for this segment in Q3 2025 was US$989.9 million, up 60.8% year-on-year.

Cross-border merchants selling into Southeast Asia

While not explicitly quantified with a separate merchant count, this group is embedded within the broader SME/merchant segment, utilizing Shopee's cross-regional platform capabilities. The overall GMV growth expectation for Shopee for the full year 2025 is set at more than 25%, which encompasses domestic and cross-border transactions flowing into the core Southeast Asia and Taiwan markets. The growth in core marketplace revenue to US$2.6 billion in Q2 2025 is a direct indicator of the transaction volume these merchants are generating on the platform.

Here's a quick look at the key user/lending metrics across the primary segments as of the latest reported quarter, Q3 2025:

Segment Metric Value (Q3 2025) Comparison/Context
Garena Quarterly Active Users 670.8 million Up 6.7% year-on-year.
Garena Quarterly Paying Users 65.9 million Up 31.2% year-on-year.
Shopee GMV Expected >25% growth for FY2025 Q2 2025 GMV was US$29.8 billion.
Shopee Adopting Sellers Growth 20% rise in sellers using ads (Q2 2025) Average ad spend up 40% in Q2 2025.
Monee Loans Principal Outstanding US$7.9 billion Up 69.8% year-on-year as of September 30, 2025.
Monee NPL Ratio (90+ days) 1.1% Relatively stable quarter-on-quarter.

The 2 million total VIP subscribers hitting in June 2025 across Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam shows a focus on capturing higher-value consumers within the mass market segment, driving better profitability per user.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

When you look at the Cost Structure for Sea Limited, you're essentially mapping out where the money goes to keep the three engines-Shopee, Garena (Digital Entertainment), and Monee (Digital Financial Services)-running and growing. As of the third quarter of 2025, the scale of these operations means costs are substantial, but the focus is clearly shifting toward efficiency.

Cost of revenue, primarily logistics and transaction costs, forms the largest single component of the cost base. For the three months ended September 30, 2025, the total Cost of Revenue was US$3.387 billion. The e-commerce segment, Shopee, is the main driver here, with its Cost of Revenue reaching US$2.5 billion for the quarter, primarily due to the necessary increase in logistics costs as order volume grew. Remember, this includes the cost to move goods, which is a direct consequence of the high Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) growth.

For the Digital Financial Services segment, Monee, the Cost of Revenue was US$125.7 million in Q3 2025. This cost base is specifically driven by operational needs like server and hosting expenses, plus the direct costs associated with the credit business, such as collection expenses and bank transaction fees.

User acquisition and platform engagement require significant spending on Sales and Marketing expenses. For the third quarter of 2025, Sea Limited reported Sales and Marketing expenses of US$1.150 billion. While this is a large absolute number, it's important to note that this grew by 30.9% year-over-year, which was significantly below the 38.3% year-over-year revenue growth, signaling improving customer acquisition efficiency.

Keeping the digital platforms running and developing new content falls under technology and development costs. The Research and Development expenses, which capture much of the Technology and Content Development costs for game updates and platform improvements, actually saw optimization in Q3 2025, coming in at US$286.3 million, a decrease of 5.2% year-over-year.

The cost associated with running the digital infrastructure-the Server and hosting expenses-is embedded within the segment cost of revenues, particularly for Monee. For instance, the Digital Financial Services Cost of Revenue of US$125.7 million explicitly cited server and hosting expenses as a primary driver.

Finally, financing costs related to the credit business and managing customer funds show up in the non-operating section. For Q3 2025, the net non-operating income was US$61.2 million, which included an interest expense of US$8.9 million. This interest expense relates to funding the credit business and potentially other liabilities, though customer deposits are often a low-cost source of funding.

Here's a quick look at the major expense categories for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to the prior year period:

Cost Component Q3 2025 Amount (USD Thousands) Q3 2024 Amount (USD Thousands) Primary Segment Driver
Total Cost of Revenue 3,386,670 2,467,172 E-commerce Logistics
Sales and Marketing Expenses 1,150,299 878,557 Shopee User Acquisition
Research and Development Expenses 286,275 301,990 Garena/Platform Tech
Interest Expense (from Net Non-operating) 8,900 (Implied) Not explicitly isolated Monee Credit Funding

You can see the operational leverage starting to show, especially in R&D, which is down, while Sales and Marketing growth is lagging revenue growth. That's a defintely positive sign for long-term margin expansion.

  • E-commerce Cost of Revenue: US$2.5 billion in Q3 2025.
  • Digital Financial Services Cost of Revenue: US$125.7 million in Q3 2025.
  • Digital Entertainment Cost of Revenue: US$171.9 million in Q3 2025 (Cost of Service).
  • Consumer and SME loans principal outstanding (Credit Business Funding context): US$7.9 billion as of September 30, 2025.

Sea Limited (SE) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how Sea Limited actually brings in the money across its three main pillars as of late 2025. Honestly, the revenue story is about diversification finally paying off, with e-commerce and fintech scaling up their monetization efforts while gaming remains a strong cash generator.

E-commerce marketplace commissions and transaction fees and Advertising revenue from sellers on the Shopee platform are bundled within the core marketplace revenue stream. For the third quarter of 2025, Shopee's core marketplace revenue-which is where you find those transaction fees and ad dollars-climbed a solid 52.8% year-over-year to reach $3.1 billion. This shows sellers are paying more to get visibility on the platform, which is a classic sign of a mature marketplace reaching better monetization levels.

The Gaming bookings and in-game item sales (Garena) stream delivered its best quarter since 2021. For Q3 2025, Garena bookings hit $840.7 million, marking a 51.1% increase year-on-year. This performance was anchored by Free Fire campaigns, like the one incorporating content from Squid Game, which saw the Red Light, Green Light challenge get over 300 million plays in Q3 alone.

For the Interest income and fees from consumer/SME credit (Monee), the Digital Financial Services segment saw GAAP revenue jump to $989.9 million in Q3 2025, up 60.8% from the prior year. A major driver here is the lending business; the total principal outstanding for consumer and SME loans reached $7.9 billion as of September 30, 2025, a 69.8% increase year-over-year. To give you a sense of the interest component, the Group recorded net non-operating income of $61.2 million in the quarter, which was primarily due to $81.8 million in interest income.

Regarding Value-added services revenue, mainly logistics services, this is embedded within the broader e-commerce revenue. While the exact logistics revenue isn't separated from the marketplace revenue, we know that SPX Express, Sea Limited's logistics arm, is handling more than half of Shopee's orders across Asia and Brazil. This internal fulfillment capability is a key value-add service that helps control costs and speed up delivery, which is crucial for retaining buyers.

Here's a quick look at the key revenue-related figures from the third quarter of 2025 (amounts in millions of US dollars unless noted):

Revenue Component Q3 2025 Amount (USD) Year-over-Year Change
Total GAAP Revenue (Group) $6,000.0 million 38.3%
E-commerce GAAP Service Revenue $3,778.7 million 36.6%
E-commerce Core Marketplace Revenue (Fees & Ads) $3,100.0 million (approximate) 52.8%
Digital Financial Services GAAP Revenue $989.9 million 60.8%
Digital Entertainment Bookings (Garena) $840.7 million 51.1%
Interest Income (Non-Operating Component) $81.8 million N/A
Consumer & SME Loans Principal Outstanding (as of Sept 30) $7.9 billion 69.8%

The e-commerce segment's total GAAP revenue, which includes marketplace fees, advertising, and value-added services like logistics, was $3.8 billion for the quarter. The growth in the loan book to $7.9 billion definitely signals that Monee is aggressively expanding its credit offerings, which directly feeds that interest income stream.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.


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