Indonesia’s ride-hailing tech startup Gojek merges with Tokopedia as it plans for an IPO and take on bigger rivals

Back in April, Indonesia’s ride-hailing tech startup Gojek said that it planned to make every car and motorcycle on its platform an electric vehicle (EV) by 2030. As part of its sustainability mission to create positive impact and long-term value for people and the planet, Gojek announced commitments to Three Zeros: Zero Emissions, Zero Waste and Zero Barriers, to be achieved by 2030.

Today, Gojek announced it has reached an agreement to acquire another Indonesian e-commerce startup Tokopedia for an undisclosed amount. Gojek said the agreement marked the largest business deal in the country. The new company, GoTo Group, will be led by Gojek’s Andre Soelistyo as group CEO and Tokopedia’s Patrick Cao will be group president.

Founded in 2009 by Herman Widjaja, Leontinus Alpha Edison, Melissa Siska Juminto, and William Tanuwijaya, Tokopedia is a Jakarta, Indonesia-based technology startup that focused on democratizing commerce through technology.

The merger also positions to go public. As Bloomberg reported in February, Gojek has announced to go public, with an expected market valuation target of between $35 billion and $40 billion. The merger will also help Gojek and Tokopedia take on larger, regional rivals such as Singapore-headquartered Grab and internet company Sea, which operates the e-commerce platform Shopee and has a digital payments and financial services business.

Founded in 2010 by Kevin Aluwi, Michaelangelo Moran, and Nadiem Makarim, Gojek is an app for ordering food, commuting, digital payments, shopping, hyper-local delivery, getting a massage, and two dozen services. It is Indonesia’s first and fastest-growing decacorn building an on-demand empire across Southeast Asia. The Gojek app was launched in 2015 in Indonesia and is now the largest consumer transactional technology group on a GTV-basis in Southeast Asia.