Shipping giant Gojek and marketplace Tokopedia said on Monday that they’ve merged their corporations to form GoTo Group, the most important technology group in Indonesia, the fourth most populous country that’s currently struggling to contain the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
The deal comes as Gojek and Tokopedia look to extend profitability about 10 years after founding by offering a collection of services on a single platform, expanding the regional trend.
Gojek’s Andre Soelistyo will lead the combined business as CEO of GoTo Group, and Tokopedia’s Patrick Cao will function president of GoTo Group. Kevin Aluwi will remain CEO of Gojek and William Tanuwajaya will remain CEO of Tokopedia, the 2 corporations said in a joint statement.
The combined entity, valued at roughly $18 billion, represents a “globally unique and highly complementary ecosystem,” the 2 corporations said, saying GoTo is characterised by:
- The Group’s total gross transaction value (GTV) in 2020 shall be over USD 22 billion
- Over 1.8 billion transactions in 2020
- Total fleet of registered drivers exceeding two million as of December 2020
- Over 11 million trading partners (as of December 2020).
- Over 100 million monthly lively users (MAU)
- An ecosystem covering 2% of Indonesia’s GDP
“The companies will continue to thrive and coexist as independent brands within a strengthened ecosystem,” they said on Monday.
Current investors – including Alibaba Group, Astra International, BlackRock, Capital Group, DST, Facebook, Google, JD.com, KKR, Northstar, Pacific Century Group, PayPal, Provident, Sequoia Capital India, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, Telkomsel, Temasek , Both corporations said Tencent, Visa and Warburg Pincus supported the merger.
Last month, Southeast Asia’s largest passenger transportation and food delivery company, Grab, accomplished a $40 billion merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Meanwhile, Singapore-based regional web company Sea Ltd, which operates e-commerce platform Shopee, can be involved in food delivery and financial services.
(Multiple sources)
