<p>SINGAPORE — Indonesian ride hailing company Gojek and e-commerce firm Tokopedia said Monday that they are merging to form the GoTo Group. </p>
<p>The companies said the deal was Indonesia’s biggest ever, based on historical fundraising rounds for Gojek, priced in 2019 and Tokopedia, priced in early-2020, that put the combined past valuations of both companies at $18 billion.</p>
<p>The new company will provide services from ride-hailing and financial services to e-commerce. GoTo is backed by investors including Alibaba Group, BackRock, Tencent and Temasek Holdings.</p>
<p>The merger comes a month after Gojek’s largest rival, Singapore-based Grab Holdings, said it would list in the United States via a merger with a special public acquisition company (SPAC) that valued the company at $40 billion.</p>
<p>Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo will lead the new company, while Tokopedia’s President Patrick Cao will retain his title in the combined entity.</p>
<p>“Today is a truly historic day as we mark the beginning of GoTo and the next phase of growth for Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial,” Soelistyo said in a statement released Monday.</p>
<p>He said that the company intends to promote financial inclusion while providing “best in class” delivery of goods and services.</p>
<p>The merger of Gojek and Tokopedia comes as competition is heating up in Southeast Asia, where technology companies compete for the wallets of over 650 million people. </p>
<p>GoTo’s rival Grab also provides ride-hailing and on-demand services across eight countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, while internet firm Sea Limited has made a massive push into e-commerce in Asia with its Shopee e-commerce platform. </p>
<p>Gojek was founded in 2010 by Nadiem Makarim as a call center for motorbike taxis, known as “Ojek” in Indonesia. It has since expanded to provide not just ride-hailing but also a variety of on-demand services, including food delivery. </p>
<p>Makarim stepped down as CEO in October 2019 after taking on a ministerial position in the Indonesian government, and Soelistyo, together with Kevin Aluwi, were named co-CEOs.</p>
<p>Tokopedia was founded in 2009 by William Tanuwijaya and has expanded to become Indonesia’s largest e-commerce firm. It later expanded to provide financial services such as digital payments and lending services.</p>
<p>GoTo Group has over 11 million monthly active users, the companies said, with its business encompassing 2% of Indonesia’s GDP of over $1 trillion.</p>
