Gojek, an Indonesian ride-hailing and payments firm, has closed an additional $1.2 billion of funding recently, as per an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.
The memo states that the company’s total funds stand at around $3 billion, and added it was still seeing “strong demand” among the investment community despite “turbulence within the tech investment environment and the coronavirus pandemic”. Written by co-chief executives Kevin Aluwi and Andre Soelistyo, the letter claimed the firm would provide “logistical capabilities…supply chains to keep people fed and payments services,” as Southeast Asia deals with the impact of the coronavirus.
News of the memo was first reported by Bloomberg News. Having evolved from a ride-hailing service founded in 2010 to a one-stop app via which users can make online payments and order food and services such as massages, Gojek is currently in a fight for a larger slice of the Southeast Asian market against Softbank-backed rival Grab. The Indonesian company, which is seeking a $10 billion valuation in its newest funding round, has denied reports it is in merger talks with Grab. Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that while senior executives from the two firms met earlier this year and the topic of a possible merger was discussed, no active merger talks are ongoing.
Gojek was the first company in Indonesia to earn the unicorn status, as stated by an independent third party. In April 2019 CB Insight announced that Gojek became the first decacorn in Indonesia, a company with a valuation exceeding US$ 10 billion. In 2019, Gojek has once again made it to the annual Fortune Change the World List, becoming the only company from Southeast Asia to make the list twice.
Gojek has solid financial backing from investors, including Astra International, bibli.com, Google, Mitsubishi, Sequoia, Northstar, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, KKR, Warburg Pincus, Visa, Parallon, SCB, Chinese internet giant Tencent, JD.com, meituan.com, and Capital Group, among others.
Gojek Group now operates in 207 cities in 5 Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines by acquiring a fintech company Coins.ph).
