Go-Jek, Indonesia’s first billion-dollar startup, plans to expand its passenger transportation services to 3 to 4 countries in Southeast Asia, intensifying its competition with Grab and Uber Technologies Inc.
Co-founder and CEO Nadiem Makarim didn’t specify the countries or services Go-Jek will goal, but said in an interview that they might be places with large populations and where money rules, suggesting that Go-Jek’s digital payments service will likely be a key a part of entering to recent markets.
Singapore-based Grab, backed by massive funding from SoftBank Group Corp. and the Chinese company Didi Chuxing, aggressively entered Go-Jek’s territory.
Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest on-demand transportation company with operations in seven countries, is run by Anthony Tan, Makarim’s former Harvard Business School classmate. This will likely be Go-Jek’s first trip outside her homeland.
“We have always been on the defensive,” Makarim said in Jakarta, without saying when Go-Jek would expand. “It’s time to bring competition into their homes.”
After Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand have essentially the most population within the region, with a combined population of roughly 270 million. Go-Jek and Grab have each implemented mobile digital payment services, seeing them as a option to scale their operations and construct a potentially lucrative business by offering financial services to large numbers of individuals with little access to banking.
“I think we have cracked the model of a platform that works in an emerging economy where the infrastructure is not very great,” Makarim said. “There is a high probability that we are going to use our entire stack. If we go in, we go in with an assortment of weapons.
“There is a high probability that we are going to use our entire stack. If we go in, we go in with an assortment of weapons.
The three-year-old start-up now has a mammoth task ahead of it, provided that Indonesian cities are notorious for awful traffic, especially in its capital, Jakarta, Drums reported.
Starting with a fleet of 20 motorcyclists and an app to assist Indonesians navigate congested roads in October 2010, Go-Jek helped Indonesians get their groceries faster by introducing one other mobile app.
This was followed by food delivery, on-demand shopping, event ticketing services, online ticketing services and automobile maintenance services.
Source : Jakarta Post Office, Drums
