Internet group Tencent has led a $1.2bn funding round for Indonesia-based on-demand ride and delivery service provider Go-Jek, TechCrunch reported yesterday, citing two sources close the company.
The deal, Tencent’s first venture capital investment in Indonesia, was closed last week and valued Go-Jek at $3bn post money. TechCrunch believes the round’s other participants were among the company’s existing investors.
Go-Jek initially focused on a ride hailing service centred on motorcycle taxis called ojeks, but has since expanded to four-wheel vehicles and now oversees a network of 200,000 drivers across 25 Indonesian cities.
The new funding will fortify Go-Jek as it battles US-based Uber and Singapore-based Grab for dominance of the country’s on-demand ride market while also growing ancillary services such as its Go-Pay mobile payment operation and its local on-demand services offering.
Another China-based internet corporate, Alibaba, had entered talks to invest in Go-Jek together with its Ant Financial affiliate but instead elected to enter Indonesia through a partnership with media group Emtek, a source told TechCrunch.
The funding follows the $550m round Go-Jek closed in August 2016 at a $1.3bn post-money valuation with participation from Rakuten Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of e-commerce and fintech company Rakuten.
The 2016 round also featured KKR, Warburg Pincus, Capital Group Private Markets, Sequoia India, Northstar Group, Farallon Capital, DST Global, NSI Ventures and Formation Group.
Go-Jek has not revealed details of its earlier funding, but NSI Ventures and Sequoia Capital had both invested in the company prior to the $550m round.