After months of rumors, Indonesian on-demand and payment service provider Gojek officially merged with e-commerce company Tokopedia on Monday. The combined entity is called GoTo Group, with a combined valuation of USD 18 billion.
Gojek’s co-CEO Andre Soelistyo will lead the combined business as GoTo Group CEO, with Tokopedia’s president Patrick Cao serving as GoTo’s president. Kevin Aluwi will remain at Gojek as CEO, while William Tanuwijaya will stay on board as CEO of Tokopedia, the company he founded. In addition to his responsibilities at GoTo, Soelistyo will continue to lead payments and financial services at GoTo Financial, which includes GoPay as well as financial services offerings for merchants that use Gojek and Tokopedia.
“Gojek drivers will deliver even more Tokopedia packages, merchant partners of all sizes will benefit from strengthened business solutions, and we will use our combined scale to increase financial inclusion in an emerging region with untapped growth potential,” said Soelistyo in a statement.
Cao added that GoTo aims to account for more than 2% of Indonesia’s gross domestic product. Last year, the group’s total gross transaction value amounted to USD 22 billion, with Gojek alone contributing USD 12 billion.
For this merger, Goldman Sachs will serve as Gojek’s financial advisor, while Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Assegaf Hamzah & Partners are serving as Gojek’s legal advisors. Citi is Tokopedia’s financial advisor, and Allen & Overy LLP is serving as Tokopedia’s legal advisor.
The two companies have been dropping hints about GoTo’s emergence since April. Tokopedia gave a nod to Gojek in its Ramadan commercial, in a scene where Tokopedia’s packages are delivered by Gojek’s fleet.
Gojek and Tokopedia are the two most successful tech-empowered companies in Indonesia, carrying valuations of USD 10.5 billion and USD 7.5 billion, respectively. Gojek has around 2 million driver-partners and hosts 900,000 SME merchants, while Tokopedia claims to have 9.9 million merchants on its marketplace.
