99 Speed Mart, one of Malaysia’s largest convenience store chains, is one of the newest firms on the Southeast Asia 500, making its debut after its 2024 IPO, Malaysia’s largest in seven years.

With $2.2 billion in revenue, 99 Speed Mart generated enough sales to land it at No. 158 on Fortune’s ranking of the largest Southeast Asian companies by revenue. The company currently has 2,833 outlets and 20 distribution centers across the country, and plans to reach 3,000 outlets by the end of the year. 

But 99 Speed Mart’s story is also as much a story about its founder, Lee Thiam Wah, as it is about the growth of a convenience store chain.

Lee contracted polio at a young age and subsequently lost the use of his legs. He’s been wheelchair-bound for much of his life. “Nobody would hire me due to my physical limitations,” he told Forbes in a 2010 interview. In that interview, he quoted advice from his paternal grandfather: “If you don’t work hard, what will you amount to?”

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Lee’s retail career got its start when he started selling snacks from a roadside stall. He then opened his first mini market in 1987 as a sole proprietorship, then established Ninety Nine Market in 1992. By 1998, he had a network of 8 mini markets, and established 99 Speed Mart two years later. 

Now, 99 Speed Mart is the largest mini-market player in Malaysia, according to its IPO prospectus. 99 Speed Mart holds 40% of the market against global competition like 7-Eleven, and the chain also has an 11% share of the grocery market. 

The company raised $532 million in an IPO last September, Malaysia’s largest in seven years. The listing made Lee a billionaire, and one of Malaysia’s richest men.

99 Speed Mart plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund its global expansion. In an interview with Bloomberg after the listing, Lee said he’s looking for “good opportunities” to go overseas, but has no “concrete plans” as of yet. (99 Speed Mart briefly had an outlet in Singapore, before withdrawing due to the COVID pandemic).

In addition to being the CEO of 99 Speed Mart, Lee also operates franchising rights for Burger King in Malaysia and Singapore, and is the third-largest shareholder of Alliance Bank Malaysia, according to Bloomberg. 

Shares in 99 Speed Mart are up 9.57% since September’s IPO. Malaysia’s benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index is down about 8% over the same period. 

In Southeast Asia, airlines like VietJet, Thai Airways, and Garuda Indonesia posted double-digit revenue growth last year. But the most impressive performance came not from a carrier, but rather a company that keeps its feet on the ground. 

Singapore’s SATS, which provides an array of services including food preparation, air cargo handling and passenger services, tripled its revenue in 2024, lifting the company to No. 93, a jump of 134 places, on this year’s Southeast Asia 500. SATS’s 2024 revenue now stands at $3.8 billion. SATS was the biggest climber on this year’s list, not including newcomers.

Much of SATS’s revenue growth comes after its completed acquisition of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a global air cargo logistics provider. SATS bought the company for 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion at current exchange rates) in a deal announced in early 2023. 

SATS’s acquisition of WFS now makes the Asia-centric company much more of an international player. WFS is the world’s largest cargo handling firm, and is a major player in both Europe and the Americas. 

A combined SATS-WFS has a combined reach of more than 215 locations worldwide, covering trade routes responsible for more than half of global air cargo volume. 

SATS’s history stems back to the early days of commercial aviation in Singapore, starting as the ground division for Malayan Airlines. That airline later split into Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysian Airline Systems. SIA then established its ground handling business as a separate business in 1972.

Now, SATS is the main air cargo, ground handling and inflight-catering services provider for Singapore’s largest civilian international airport, Changi Airport. SATS has since expanded its footprint throughout Asia, forming joint ventures in markets like mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia. 

In its most recent financial report for the quarter ending March 2025, SATS reported a 13% jump in revenue year-on-year to reach 5.8 billion Singapore dollars ($4.53 billion at current exchange rates), driven by a growth in business volume and revenue contributions from its expanded network. 

“Our cargo volumes have consistently outperformed IATA’s global growth benchmarks, demonstrating our ability to leverage our expanded network to secure new contracts,” SATS said in its annual report.

The company aims to hit 8 billion Singapore dollars ($6.2 billion) in revenue by the end of its 2029 fiscal year, thanks to a larger network, growth in Asia-Pacific passenger volumes, and Singapore’s role as an aviation hub.