Tech giant Google is all set to invest about $100 million in Indonesia-based ride-hailing company Go-Jek. Besides search giant, Singapore-based investor Temasek is also investing in the startup Go-Jek as a part of $1.2 billion fundraising round.
The investment seems to be a part of Google’s Next Billion Users (NBU) programme. It’s eyeing to grow Southeast Asia’s digital economy and fostering startup ecosystem in Indonesia, reports Reuters.
The quantum of fund infusion into the Indonesian-based ride-hailing firm remains unknown. However, Reuter report mentions that it’s in a range of $100 million.
Pushing its Next Billion Users (NBU) programme in India, Google had acquired Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup Halli Labs. The startup was focused on building deep learning and machine learning systems to solve an old problem. It also led a strategic investment in Bengaluru-based daily task management app Dunzo.
Founded in 2011, Go-Jek was set up by Nadiem Makarim, a Harvard alumnus who also worked at global management consulting firm McKinsey.
Go-Jek claims to have over 200,000 drivers across some 25 cities in Indonesia. It delivers everything from ride and meals to groceries cleaners, masseuses, and hairdressers across the Indonesian capital.
Currently, the Indonesian unicorn does more orders than Swiggy, Zomato and Foodpanda collectively.
Blue chip investors such as Tencent Holdings and JD Inc invested in Go-Jek while its rivals Grab, and Uber are being backed by Softbank.
Also Read: Toyota to make undisclosed investment in ride-hailing firm Grab
In Southeast Asia, ride-hailing firms have been investing aggressively to expand digital payment systems for the use case at their platforms as well as third-party payments.
Meanwhile, Grab claims to have a market share of 95 percent in third-party taxi-hailing and 72 percent in private-vehicle hailing in the Southeast Asian region.
Southeast Asia considers being the third-biggest ride-hailing market after China and the United States. Indonesia is believed to have the fifth largest internet users’ population across the world with having more than 133 million people online.
Las year, Go-Jek had raised $1.2 billion from Chinese internet giant Tencent. In past, it also had acquired three fintech startups for undisclosed amounts.
