Gojek and Tokopedia officially merge to form a new entity “GoTo” today (17/5). GoTo combines e-commerce, on-demand and financial services into one ecosystem. The combination is said to spread around Indonesia, and the largest one between the two internet companies in Asia.
It was supported by the ranks of the two companies’ main investors. Those are Alibaba Group, Astra International, BlackRock, Capital Group, DST, Facebook, Google, JD.com, KKR, Northstar, Pacific Century Group, PayPal, Provident, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, Telkomsel, Temasek, Tencent, Visa, and the Warburg Pincus.
The GoTo Group ecosystem represents 2% of Indonesia’s total GDP and will increasingly serve 270 million Indonesian consumers and other developing countries in Southeast Asia. In the description, the GoTo Group has a total Gross Transaction Value (GTV) of more than $22 billion in 2020; more than 1.8 billion transactions in 2020; more than two million driver-partners registered as of December 2020; more than 11 million business partners as of December 2020; more than 100 million monthly active users.
In an official statement, Gojek’s Andre Soelistyo is to lead GoTo as the Group CEO, with Patrick Cao from Tokopedia as GoTo’s President. Next, Kevin Aluwi will remain as Gojek’s CEO and William Tanuwijaya as Tokopedia’s CEO.
Aside from his responsibilities at the group level, Andre will continue to lead the payments and financial services business called “GoTo Financials”. GoTo Financials includes GoPay services, as well as financial services and business solutions for business partners.
“Today is very historical as the GoTo Group is formed and it marks the growth phase for Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial. [..] The GoTo Group will also enable us to further encourage financial inclusion in Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” Andre Soelistyo said.
GoTo’s President, Patrick Cao added, “The GoTo Group business model is becoming more diverse, stable and sustainable. [..] We are excited to start the next chapter of our business history and will continue to innovate to drive more inclusive growth in every sector our technology involved.”
Tokopedia’s Co-Founder & CEO, William Tanuwijaya said, “[..] The GoTo Group will make it easy for all levels of society to gain access to high-quality products and services, anytime and anywhere. In order to achieve this goal, the journey is still quite long, but today is all about starting it all together.”
Gojek’s Co-Founder & CEO, Kevin Aluwi said, “This is a combination of two companies that share the same principles, thoughts and work ethic. Delivering an agreement of the size and scale of a business such as Gojek and Tokopedia in a relatively short time and smooth move, can only be achieved because we share the same goal, which is to always provide the best experience for consumers supported by the fastest and largest mobility network of driver partners and our merchants.”
In this merger process, Goldman Sachs acted as Gojek’s financial advisor. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Assegaf Hamzah & Partners joined as legal advisors to Gojek. Citi also involved as Tokopedia’s financial advisor. Allen & Overy LLP acted as Tokopedia’s legal advisor.
–
Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
