Indonesia’s GoTo, formed from the landmark merger of on-demand app Gojek and e-commerce company Tokopedia this year, expects to benefit from the diversification and economies of scale, which would not have been possible had the companies remained individual players.
“It [the merger] has helped to compete with other others in Indonesia, the largest economy in the region, also in the other markets, including Singapore and Vietnam,” said Patrick Cao, president, GoTo. He was speaking at a fireside chat titled GoTo: Value creation where the whole is greater than the sum of parts at the Asia PE-VC Summit on Oct. 1.
“I think the combination allows us to improve on unit economics because we’re not a single-use case player. Every dollar of marketing and promotion can be used to grow multiple businesses,” Cao added.
The GoTo combine includes ride-hailing, e-commerce, financial services and also enjoys a huge home market advantage.
“We’ve been able to build a very unique first kind of ecosystem that combines food, e-commerce, grocery, logistics, fulfillment, and general financial services. The combination, particularly during the pandemic, has allowed us to serve our customers, buyers, merchants, and partners in a very meaningful way,” said Cao.
Going forward, food delivery and financial services will likely be the most promising businesses for GoTo.
GoTo was also reported to have appointed underwriters to manage a $1 billion IPO, which could take place as early as the first quarter of next year. It was valued at at least $25 billion after the first close of its pre-IPO funding round in November, DealStreetAsia had reported.
Watch the video of Cao’s chat with Akito Tanaka, chief business news correspondent, Nikkei Asia, at the summit.