Established in 2009 by Forrest Li, Sea was initially founded as Garena, a game development and publishing company known for its Free Fire title.

[9] Since 2020, Sea is also the owner of Singapore Premier League football club Lion City Sailors FC, after Forrest Li acquired, privatised and renamed Home United.

[16] The company's digital entertainment segment retained the Garena name, maintaining its brand identity in the gaming industry.

[26] The company also serves consumers and sellers throughout Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia), Taiwan, and Brazil.

These are available in seven markets across Southeast Asia and Taiwan under various brands, including ShopeePay, SPayLater, SLoan (or SPinjam in Indonesia and SEasyCash in Thailand), and even SeaBank and MariBank.

[30] Garena operates as the digital entertainment division of Sea, managing Garena+, an online gaming and social platform established in 2010.

[34][2] The company indicated that Garena had maintained steady demand for its popular title, Free Fire, which achieved a peak of over 100 million daily active users in February 2024.