gojek raises US$1.2B to support competition against Grab
Indonesian ride-hailing giant gojek has raised US$1.2 billion, taking the total secured in its current funding round to “just under” US$3 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.
Citing an internal memo, the report stated that the new funding was finalised “just over the past week” at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak around the world. It did not mention the identities of the investors involved in this round.
“We’re not stopping there as we are still seeing strong demand among the investment community to partner with us … There are a number of exciting ongoing conversations that we will be able to update you on very soon,” wrote gojek Co-CEO Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi in the memo.
The funding round came just after gojek had been reported to be considering a merger with rival Grab — a report that gojek has denied.
The report stressed that this latest funding round will enable gojek to “negotiate from a position of strength” if they do decide to follow on with the merger, especially since both companies have been known burn money in realising its expansion plan.
However, reports of the merger have been met with opposition from competition watchbody in various Southeast Asian markets.