GoTo raises $1.5 billion in IPO to become Indonesia’s 4th most-valuable firm.

GoTo raises $1.5 billion in IPO to become Indonesia’s 4th most-valuable firm.
Startups

GoTo Group is an Indonesian tech startup and holding company formed in 2021 in a joint venture between Indonesia’s biggest tech companies, Gojek, an e-commerce company, and Tokopedia. 

In 2015, the two companies signed a deal that involved Gojek delivering Tokopedia’s products through its services. 

The merger between the two companies has raised $1.1 billion from its initial public offering (IPO). The company is optimistic about raising the crippling Indonesian tech sector. 

In the meantime, GoTo is set to make its first appearance on Monday in Jakarta and admits one of the world’s greatest IPO in 2022. 

The debut will serve as a new beginning for Indonesia’s $70million economy for startup companies. It could be the largest in the Southeastern Asian country. 

An exclusive report from Reuters stated that the tech startup, late last month, made a public announcement that it has a valuable amount of investors for its IPO.  

GoTo has opened up about its previous bidding, which had a value of $26.2 billion to $28.8 billion. This figure would automatically place it as Indonesia’s 4th biggest firm while targeting tech startups. The IPO, however, will be opened to new retail investors in April. 

GoTo is emulating the footsteps of another tech startup, Bukalapak. The e-commerce company recently acquired over $1.5 billion in Indonesia’s larger IPO. 

According to Shane Chesson, a partner at Open Space ventures, Gojek’s earliest investors, “GoTo is the most differentiated technology company in Southeast Asia. Relative to its peers, diversification is going to be a very important thing that investors will need to get on top of and understand how to properly value the business.” 

Good news for the Indonesian economy 

Indonesia’s tech company has been predicted to grow five times its value up to $330 billion by 2023. The prediction was made by consultancy Bain & Co and GoTo backers Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd (TEM.UL).

GoTo is selling 4% in shares and widening its investor base by allocating over 600,000 shares to its drivers. It’s backed by big industry names such as Alibaba Groups Holding Ltd, SoftBank Group Corps, Vision Fund 1, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Could there be competition lingering around for the tech startup?

With 2.5 million registered partnered drivers, 14 million registered merchants, and 55 million users at the end of 2021, there’s arguably no competition.

In particular, this merger helps Gojek and Tokopedia work on bigger regional rivals like Singapore Grab and internet company Sea, which runs the E-commerce platform Shopee.

Currently, GoTo Group’s business cuts across ride-hailing, E-commerce, and financial services.

It’s now one of the biggest collaborations in Southeastern Asia.  

Photo by sarmin_hi from Flikr