Gojek Plans Merger With E-Commerce Giant

The Indonesia-headquartered super-app is reportedly in advanced merger talks with local e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia, ahead of a planned initial public offering of the combined entity.

Indonesia’s two most valuable start-ups have signed a detailed term sheet to conduct due diligence of each others’ business, a «Bloomberg» report on Tuesday said.

The deal would create an internet powerhouse valued at $18 billion, with businesses that include ride-hailing and payments to online shopping and delivery.

According to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter, the two sides have considered a potential merger since 2018, but talks recently accelerated after plans for Gojek to merge with regional rival Grab fell through. Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, an investor in Tokopedia, is reportedly backing the merger as he is losing patience with Grab chief Anthony Tan’s reluctance to cede some control in the combined entity with Gojek.

Two weeks ago, Gojek said its payments and financial services arm GoPay would be increasing its stake in Bank Jago from 4.1 percent to 22.2 percent, as part of its bid to accelerate financial inclusion in Asia.

The partnership will allow Gojek users to access digital banking services through its platform, as well as to instantly open a bank account with Jago and manage their finances via the super-app.

Earlier this year, Gojek acquired Jakarta-based mobile point-of-sale (POS) market leader Moka for $130 million. It is the second POS SaaS platform that Gojek has acquired after Nadipos (now rebranded as Spots) in late 2018.