According to the latest reports, Gojek has announced that it has merged with Tokopedia. Gojek is a payments firm as a ride-hailing company based in Indonesia. On the other hand, Tokopedia is an e-commerce platform that is also based in Indonesia.
Both firms have announced their merger on Monday and have revealed that they will be launching the GoTo Group. It is not yet confirmed as to how much Gojek has paid in order to complete the deal and carry out the merger.
However, Gojek has claimed that it is the largest business deal that has ever taken place in the entire history of Indonesia. With the claim, Gojek has pointed towards the valuation of both companies. At present, the combined market capitalization of both companies is $18 billion.
The companies have revealed that with their merger, they are aiming to carry out an enormous initial public offering (IPO). Through the initial public offering (IPO), the companies are aiming to generate enough funds that their combined valuation doubles.
According to Gojek, they are planning to increase the market capitalization of the merger between $35 billion and $40 billion.
In order to generate as many funds as possible through the IPO, the merger has introduced a new platform called GoTo Financial. The firm has confirmed that this will be the new department managing the payments and finances of the merged companies going forward.
The companies have confirmed that even after the merger, Tokopedia will be led by William Tanuwijaya. The CEO of Gojek will not be changed and Kevin Aluwi will continue his role as the chief executive of Gojek. As for the new formation, GoTo Group, Patrick Cao from Tokopedia will be the president.
The companies have revealed that with the merger, they are aiming to target bigger markets. Their aim is to take on larger rivals that currently have regional control, and are in the middle of expanding their businesses as well.
As of now, one of the biggest rivals that the GoTo Group is aiming to take on is Sea. The company has a lot of control in the financial and digital payments services business in Singapore and other countries in the region.
Furthermore, Sea also has one of the most popular e-commerce platforms currently available to Singaporeans. The e-commerce platform Sea operates in Singapore is called Shopee. At present, the market capitalization of Sea is more than $112, which is a lot more than what Gojek and Tokopedia have combined.
The officials of Gojek and Tokopedia had stated as a result of the merger, they plan to combine the forces of their e-commerce platform, financial services, and digital payment services.