Telkomsel Invests $300 Million in Gojek

Telkomsel Increases Investment in Gojek

Telkomsel, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s leading telecommunications company Telkom, has furthered its financial commitment to ride-hailing and payments company Gojek with an additional investment of $300 million. This announcement was made jointly by both companies on Monday.

This latest funding round occurs shortly after Telkomsel’s initial $150 million investment in the Southeast Asian firm. The move underscores a strengthening strategic alliance between the two entities.

Gojek's Proposed Merger with Tokopedia

The investment arrives as Gojek progresses towards finalizing a significant merger with e-commerce giant Tokopedia. Reports indicate that this $18 billion deal will create a new combined entity known as GoTo.

Telkomsel’s recent investment positions it as potentially one of the top eight investors in the newly formed GoTo group.

Strategic Partnership and Synergies

Gojek, having secured over $3.45 billion in funding from prominent investors such as Google, Facebook, PayPal, Visa, and Tencent, and Telkomsel emphasized that their partnership will foster new synergies.

These synergies will be achieved through the scaling of digital services and the development of innovative solutions for the Indonesian market.

Existing Collaboration

A collaborative agreement between the two companies has been in place since 2018. This agreement focuses on subsidizing mobile data costs for Gojek’s driver partners.

Telkomsel currently serves over 170 million subscribers, solidifying its position as Indonesia’s largest telecom operator.

Expansion of Gojek’s Services

Beyond ride-hailing, Gojek has diversified its operations to include digital payments and food delivery services within Indonesia.

The initial $150 million investment from Telkomsel in November of the previous year led to the integration of several services. This integration aimed to accelerate the digitization of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and reduce costs for driver partners.

Integrated Services for MSMEs

Key integrations include the connection of Telkomsel MyAds with GoBiz. This allows Gojek’s MSME partners to leverage MyAds for broader reach to Telkomsel users.

Furthermore, Gojek MSME partners now have simplified access to become Telkomsel reseller partners through the DigiPOS Aja! Application.

Co-Marketing Initiatives

The companies are also jointly promoting gaming services through Telkomsel’s Dunia Games and GoPay, in collaboration with Tencent. This provides enhanced benefits for players of PUBGM.

Telkomsel’s Vision

Setyanto Hantoro, CEO of Telkomsel, stated that the company is confident this investment will broaden access to cutting-edge digital technologies developed by Indonesian companies.