Gojek is reportedly secure new funding in the Series F round, it is said to reach US$1.2 billion or 18 trillion Rupiah. According to a source by Bloomberg, based on the memo from Gojek’s C0-CEO, Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi, this round was closed per last week. There’s no further details on the participant investors. The latest news said the giant retail Amazon to join by initiating a strategic partnership.
This round targets funds of up to US$ 3 billion or equivalent to 42.2 trillion Rupiah. It has been ongoing since October 2018, with a closing target in early 2020. Therefore, the latest fund is likely to be the closing at this stage.
Unfortunately, the amount of every fundraising announcement weren’t always off to the public as the one from AIA Indonesia in last September. However, a reliable source says the total amount obtained is currently below the target of US$ 3 billion.
Consistent with the same mission, the series F fund will be focused on expansion while tightening competition with the main rival in Southeast Asia, Grab Holdings. Visa, Mitsubishi, Astra, Google, JD.com, Tencent Holdings are the ranks of investors who were previously involved in this round.
This has become the biggest fund of a tech player in the first quarter of 2020. Amidst the pessimistic for the digital business ecosystem due to some cases, including the Covid-19 pandemic that captures global attention, including Indonesia.
In addition, analyzes have predicted a slowdown in investment flows in the technology business the previous year. It includes the SoftBank portfolio issues, WeWork and Oyo; it makes investors turn vigilant in conducting business technology assessments.
Rumors about the Gojek and Grab mergers also arise, after the meeting between Grab’s President Ming Maa and Gojek’s Co-CEO Andre Soelistyo. A merger can be happened partially, involving only business in certain countries. In fact, reportedly there has been no silver lining of the two companies valuations and who will be the dominant one.
Also, there is a signal of rejection, particularly from regulators in Indonesia and Singapore, which are important market places for both companies. Moreover, if there is a market monopoly, consumers will be theones who lose the most due to their dependence on services from both companies.
Aside from transportation, competition between Gojek and Grab has covered a variety of other on-demand aspects. The most obvious is currently the food delivery service and digital payments. Both continue to “burn money” in order to achieve the most optimized growth, therefore the investment cycle continues to climb.
Grab alone has begun to open the series I round. The latest is Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the investor involved in Gojek funding, also involved in the US$ 856 million funding.
Gojek has performed market penetration in several countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore; in Malaysia and the Philippines are in the maturity stage. Meanwhile, besides Indonesia, Grab has already been established in Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
