Go-Jek’s Nadiem Makarim tries wooing drivers from Uber and Grab

Photo credit: Adrian Jack Bunsby.

(Update April 22:  Go-Jek’s video message which was previously public on YouTube has been set to private. We have removed the embedded video.)

The battle of transportation startups in Indonesia is coming to a head, and it could get nasty.

There are now three major competitors wanting to be king of the streets in every category. There’s local startup Go-Jek, Grab from Malaysia, and Uber from the US, all with similar services.

Grab started out as a taxi-hailing app, and then added options for two-wheel rides and cars. Uber, of course, invented the car-based on-demand ride model and surprised everyone when it decided to venture into two-wheelers, first in India, then Indonesia. Go-Jek started out as an online ordering system for two-wheel rides, but a few days ago stunned everyone when it also introduced cars.

Now, all three companies are fiercely competing for passengers across several transportation modes, which has resulted in low fares and a frenzy of promos. But the startups also need to find ways to recruit new drivers into their network by promising good bonuses and perks.

Snatching drives from rivals

Nadiem Makarim, Go-Jek’s co-founder and CEO, employed quite an audacious measure to recruit drivers: in a video message, he appealed to Grab and Uber drivers’ sense of nationalism for Indonesia and invited them to switch over to work for Go-Jek because it’s an Indonesian company. (Oh, and he also offered a US$11.42 signup bonus and said drivers will be automatically accepted if they can show they’ve been driving for one of the competitors.)

Go-Jek co-founder and CEO Nadiem Makarim.

Makarim specifically addressed two-wheel drivers. That means Go-Jek is now expanding its motorcycle fleet again, after it had swelled up to 200,000 drivers at the end of last year and been more or less stagnant since.

Will Go-Jek be equally brazen in recruiting drivers for Go-Car? The local startup introduced its car service just two days ago, so it’s definitely got some catching up to do with Uber and Grab in this category. The Go-Jek rivals have been building their fleets for months.

Converted from Indonesian Rupiah. Rate: US$1 = IDR 13,158.