Indonesian ride hailing company Gojek and e-commerce firm Tokopedia said Monday that they are merging to form GoTo Group.
The companies said the arrangement was Indonesia’s greatest ever, in light of historical fund raising rounds for Gojek, estimated in 2019 and Tokopedia, evaluated in mid 2020, that put the combined past valuations of the two companies at $18 billion.
The new company will provide service from ride-hailing and financial services to e-commerce business. GoTo is sponsored by investors including Alibaba Group, BackRock, Tencent and Temasek Holdings.
The consolidation comes a month after Gojek’s biggest rival, Singapore-based Grab Holdings, said it would list in the US by means of a consolidation with special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) that valued the company at $40 billion.
Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo will lead the new company, while Tokopedia’s President Patrick Cao will hold his title in the joint business.
“Today is a genuinely memorable day as we mark the start of GoTo and the following period of development for Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial,” Soelistyo said in a release on Monday.
He said that the company expects to advance financial inclusion while giving “top tier” delivery of goods and services.
The consolidation of Gojek and Tokopedia comes as rivalry is warming up in Southeast Asia, where technology companies compete for the wallets of more than 650 million people.
GoTo’s rival Grab likewise gives ride-hailing and on-request services across eight nations in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, while internet firm Sea limited has made a monstrous drive into e-commerce in Asia with its Shopee e-commerce platform.
Gojek was established in 2010 by Nadiem Makarim as a call center for motorbike taxis, known as “Ojek” in Indonesia. It has since extended to give ride-hailing as well as an assortment of on-request services, including food delivery.
Makarim stepped down as CEO in October 2019 in the wake of taking on a ministerial position in the Indonesian government, and Soelistyo, along with Kevin Aluwi, were named co-CEOs.
Tokopedia was established in 2009 by William Tanuwijaya and has expanded to become Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce firm. It later expanded to offer financial services like digital payments and lending services.
GoTo Group has more than 11 million monthly active users, the companies said, with its business encompassing 2% of Indonesia’s Gross domestic product of more than $1 trillion.
