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Google has invested in Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek, as part of its strategy to support and participate in the growth of Indonesia’s internet economy, Caesar Sengupta, a vice president at Google said in a company blog.
"This investment lets us partner with a great local champion in Indonesia's flourishing startup ecosystem, while also deepening our commitment to Indonesia's internet economy," Sengupta said in a post titled "Investing in Indonesia."
This month, sources told Reuters that Alphabet’s Google, Singapore state investor Temasek and others were investing in Go-Jek as part of a $1.2 billion fundraising round, bolstering the Indonesian start-up in its battle with deep-pocketed rivals Grab and Uber.
Go-Jek itself was founded in 2011 and it began to make a name for itself a few years ago through its core motorbike tax on-demand service. Bike taxis already exist in many of Southeast Asia’s largest cities where they are popular options for cutting through congested streets and getting from A to B faster than four wheels.
Go-Jek has since expanded to offer regular taxis, services and shopping on-demand and a mobile payment service, which is being pushed as an offline option too. Its core office is in Jakarta but it has an engineering presence in India. The company is widely thought to be ahead of Grab and Uber in Indonesia, which remains its only market.
Uber and Grab both offer similar motorbike taxi options in parts of Southeast Asia, while Grab has also ventured into the mobile payment space.
(REUTERS)
