• Grab and Gojek fail to come to terms on a possible merger owing to disagreements over regional leadership of merged entity

• Gojek and Tokopedia’s union can be promising for both companies
• Regional expansion of Gojek-Tokopedia merged entity needs closer look for it to succeed

Two Indonesian unicorns, Gojek and Tokopedia, are in advanced discussions about a possible merger ahead of their planned dual public listing in Indonesia and the US, according to Bloomberg.

Gojek, a ride-hailing service app turned multi-service platform and payments technology platform, and Tokopedia, an e-commerce group, first considered a merger back in 2018. Discussions were fast-tracked after Gojek’s proposed merger with Grab fell through.

Grab and Gojek fail to come to an agreement

The Grab-Gojek planned merger backed by Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, faced a number of hurdles such as disagreements over ownership and management of the combined entity. Anthony Tan, CEO of Grab, was reportedly in favour of an acquisition of Gojek and turning it into a subsidiary of Grab. Gojek’s executives, on the other hand, wanted a partnership. Exacerbating the issue is the reluctance of regulators to green light the merger that could have resulted in reduced market competition.

Tokopedia, backed by Softbank, has little overlap with Gojek save for its payments business where it is a major shareholder in OVO, one of the leading digital payment platforms in the country. It also launched in December 2020 an artificial intelligence (AI)-supported PayLater service with another payment company, Indodana. Gojek meanwhile operates its own payment platform, GoPay.

Gojek-Tokopedia union a promising thought

The potential merger between Gojek and Tokopedia could result in an $18 billion internet powerhouse in the region that can provide se...

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Keywords:Merger, Digital Payments, Mergers And Acquisitions, Platforms, Financial Technology, Unbanked