Gojek merges with Tokopedia to form tech giant, GoTo Group

Indonesian ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia yesterday announced a multi-billion dollar merger of their businesses to create a technology powerhouse called GoTo Group. The merger comes as Singapore’s largest-ever deal ever and GoTo Group will cover online shopping, courier services, ride-hailing, food delivery and other services in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, making it the biggest privately held technology company in Southeast Asia.

According to Reuters, GoTo Group plans to list in Indonesia and the United States later this year and in a joint statement released yesterday, the companies said their combined past valuation was US$18 billion based on fundraisings done in 2019 and early 2020.

The merger of Gojek and Tokopedia is backed by global heavyweight investors such as Alibaba Group Holding , SoftBank Group Corp, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Alphabet’s Google and Tencent Holdings.

“GoTo will be unique in its ability to cover two-thirds of Indonesian consumer expenditure”, Tokopedia President Patrick Cao told Reuters. “If you look at our regional peers, they exceed only at covering one sector.”

With the merger, Patrick will become the president of GoTo and the CEO of Gojek, Andre Soelistyo, will be chief executive of the Group.

According to Reuters, sources said Gojek’s shareholders will own 58 per cent of the holding company while the balance will be held by Tokopedia’s investors.

GoTo’s deal came together quickly in December after months of negotiations between Gojek and Singapore-based Grab fell apart, Reuters reported. Gojek and Tokopedia’s executives have personal and family ties and have held discussions about a deal in 2018, sources told Reuters.

Using the model of Alphabet, Gojek and Tokopedia plan to remain separate but work together on payments, logistics and food deliveries.