Go-Jek raises Series F funding of $2 B, closes first tranche of $920 M led by Google, Tencent and JD
Go-Jek will use the fresh infusion of funds to deepen its business in its home market- Indonesia, while growing its presence across new markets in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Go-Jek, the Indonesian bike taxi service is set to raise $2 billion funding at a valuation of $9.5 billion. The Indonesian unicorn has confirmed the first close of this round to TechCrunch.
The first close is reported to be at $920 million, which was led by Google, Tencent and JD.com. The round is reported to see participation from Provident Capital and Mitsubishi Corporation as well.
Go-Jek will use the fresh infusion of funds to deepen its business in its home market- Indonesia, while growing its presence across new markets in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Reports also suggest, the South-east Asian unicorn is looking to enter the Philippines.
Founded in 2015, Go-Jek initially started with motorbike taxis, and expanded to delivery, taxis, and private car facilities. Last January, Google invested in the Indonesian ride-sharing platform along with Singapore’s Temasek and China’s Meituan-Dianping. It was part of the tranche of $1.2 billion it raised at that time. The company was then valued at $4 billion.
In Indonesia, Go-Jek business include - services on demand, payments and financial services, transportation and food delivery. Its Vietnamese service - Go-Viet offers motorbike taxis and food delivery. The platform is believed to touch over 204 cities, has two million drivers and over 400,000 merchants.
The team claimed to have over 130 million downloads and a reported annualised transaction volume of two billion as of last year. Its annualised gross merchandise value (GMV) is said to be at $6.7 billion.
Go-Jek currently is in close competition with Grab, which last year acquired Uber's local business. Grab operates in eight countries, is said to have crossed over three billion riders and has over 130 million app downloads.
Reports state that the ride-hailing sector in Southeast Asia is set to become a $20.1 billion market by 2025, going up from $5.1 billion in 2017. Indonesia, the report said, will own close to 40 percent of the revenue. After India, Indonesia is the second country globally to get a ‘Google Station.’
Go-Jek has grown into a 100 million monthly order business spread across 22 products and services. It has disbursed $20 million in tips in the last 18 months, and every month it averages around $1.5 million. The Indonesian unicorn also has a tech centre based in Bengaluru.
During its first investment in Go-Jek, Google, in its blog said:
“Indonesia already has a thriving internet economy, and a bustling startup scene, home to four of Southeast Asia’s eight “unicorns,” but we’d like to do more to help supercharge and grow with it. So, to help Indonesians build the next great startup, we’ve already trained nearly 60,000 Indonesians on mobile app development, toward our goal of reaching 100,000 developers by 2020. And to help more Indonesian small businesses tap into the power of the internet, our Gapura Digital initiative has trained more than 40,000 small business owners in 10 cities, with more cities to come.”
Currently, in Southeast Asia the fight seems to be between Go-Jek and Grab. With this recent funding, it will be interesting to see how they battle it out.