Indonesia-based on-demand ride service Go-Jek has begun discussions with investors including internet technology provider Google, internet group Tencent and e-commerce firm JD.com to raise $1.5bn, The Information reported yesterday.
The news, revealed to The Information by people familiar with the matter, followed a report by Bloomberg earlier this month stating that existing investors in Go-Jek including Tencent and private equity firm Warburg Pincus had offered it $1bn in new funding to support growth.
Go-Jek’s core offering is ride hailing but it has expanded into services such as food, parcel and e-commerce product delivery.
The company is preparing to enter neighbouring markets, beginning with Thailand and Vietnam before moving on to Singapore and the Philippines, but will face competition in the region from another well-funded player, Singapore-based Grab.
Go-Jek had previously raised $1.5bn from Tencent, JD.com, Google, Warburg Pincus, insurance group Allianz’s Allianz X unit, local services platform Meituan-Dianping, e-commerce company Blibli, industrial conglomerate Astra International, Temasek and KKR over the course of 2017 and early 2018.
The last round, which sources told The Information valued Go-Jek at $4.8bn, in turn followed a $550m round in 2016 featuring Warburg Pincus, KKR and Rakuten Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of e-commerce group Rakuten.
Sequoia India, Northstar Group, DST Global, Farallon Capital, Capital Group Private Markets, NSI Ventures and Formation Group also took part in the 2016 round.
Go-Jek has not disclosed details of its earlier funding, but Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India, Northstar, DST, NSI and Formation were all existing backers.