Softbank-backed Tokopedia is reportedly close to receive investment from Google and Temasek Holdings, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The financing could reach about USD 350 million, which is less than the initial goal of USD 500 million to USD 1 billion.
The report added that Tokopedia may still be looking for more investors to reach said goal. Aside from Google, other American companies have been approached by the Indonesian unicorn, including Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Founded in 2009 by William Tanuwijaya, Tokopedia saw its largest fundraising back in 2017, in a USD 1.1 billion round led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. It has raised a total of USD 2.9 billion from 11 rounds since its conception, according to Crunchbase. In 2019, the Jakarta-based firm planned an initial public offering (IPO) after a final funding round. Aside from listing shares at home, Tokopedia also considered a second, yet-undecided location.
Tokopedia didn’t immediately respond to KrASIA’s request for comment.
As people are leaving their homes less often, e-commerce platforms like Tokopedia, Singapore-based Shopee, and others are seeing a rise in transactions. Tokopedia also expanded their offerings by launching products such as peer-to-peer fintech lending platform Dhanapala and printing service Tokopedia Print.
America’s and China’s tech giants have shown increasing interest in the Southeast Asian market lately. Google, Facebook’s WhatsApp, Tencent, and PayPal invested in Indonesia’s decacorn Gojek. Tokopedia could be the next addition to their portfolios.
