GO-JEK Seeks To Raise $2B In Funding

As Southeast Asia’s GO-JEK seeks to raise up to $2 billion of funding while it takes on Grab, the company has reportedly closed a portion of the round. Tencent, Google and JD.com, among some of the company’s existing investors, reportedly plan to invest roughly $920 million in the firm, according to reports.

According to an unnamed source cited in the reports, the deal could indicate a roughly $9.5 billion value for GO-JEK. The company is now reportedly looking for other investors to help it reach its funding goal. It was also said that the funding could go toward helping with its FinTech efforts, along with growing the company’s new market presence.

Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing market is set to become a $31 billion business by 2025, up from $8 billion in 2018 per a Temasek and Google report. The region counts over 620 million people in its population, as well as growing access to the internet. At the same time, services like GO-JEK and Grab are growing beyond transportation to payment services and grocery offerings.

The news comes as GO-JEK was gearing up to roll out a preliminary version of its ride-hailing app in Singapore in November. Sources said GO-JEK’s beta app at the time indicated, according to reports, that the offering would be available to select consumers before expanding to a wider population in the future. GO-JEK first expanded into Vietnam, then Thailand. And, to enter the Singapore market, GO-JEK Executive Officer Nadiem Makarim said the company will use promotions.

Makarim said, according to reports, “It’s time to rebalance the equilibrium and add a lot more consumer- and driver-friendly policies, and introduce some competition … but it will be a healthy competition. At the end of the day, the biggest factor will not be in the price competition, but on how we treat our drivers.”

At the time, it was reported that GO-JEK and Grab were two of the most valuable startups in Southeast Asia.