Indonesia's Gojek, Tokopedia merge to create tech champion

MERGER - SINGAPORE. Indonesian ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia announced a multi-billion dollar merger of their businesses on Monday, creating a technology powerhouse called GoTo Group in the country's largest-ever deal.

The deal comes as Gojek and Tokopedia - each backed by global heavyweight investors - seek to boost profitability some 10 years after they were founded by marrying their services in one bouquet under a single platform. It also extends growing consolidation among Southeast Asia's fast-moving tech startups.

Alibaba Group Holding, SoftBank Group Corp and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are among Tokopedia's investors, while Gojek's include Google, Warburg Pincus and Tencent Holdings.

Sources familiar with the situation had earlier said the companies were seeking a $18 billion merger.

In a joint statement, the firms did not give a current value of the merged GoTo Group, but said that based on historical fundraising of the companies, the combined past valuation was $18 billion.

Gojek Chief Executive Andre Soelistyo will lead the combined business as GoTo's chief executive officer, while Tokopedia President Patrick Cao will become president of GoTo.

"Our business model is now even more diverse, stable and sustainable. We have Gojek's high volume, high frequency mobility transactions, combined with Tokopedia's high value, medium frequency e-commerce transactions," said Cao.

Last month, Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm, Grab, clinched a $40 billion merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Meanwhile Singapore-based regional internet firm Sea Ltd, which operates e-commerce platform Shopee, is also muscling into food delivery and financial services.

Goldman Sachs is the financial advisor to Gojek, and Citi is financial advisor to Tokopedia.