Photo credit: Go-Jek
Grab became the clear market leader in ride-hailing across Southeast Asia after it elbowed Uber out of the picture. As expected, it will have little time to enjoy the limelight.
After months of speculation, Indonesian rival Go-Jek has officially announced its plan for expansion beyond its home market.
The Jakarta-based company is spending US$500 million to move into Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines – all countries where Grab is currently the dominant player.
Over the next few months, it will bring its ride-hailing service to these markets, before adding other on-demand features in the future.
First foot forward
Like Grab, Go-Jek has diversified beyond ride-hailing into areas such as food delivery, micro-lending, and insurance. The Indonesian company is even trying its hand at media content.
Mevira Munindra, Indonesia head of consulting at research firm IDC, told Tech in Asia that “it is not going to be easy for Go-Jek.”
She added, “It will be a challenging journey to tap into these markets and bring in new solutions in payments, micro-lending, food delivery, and so on. Understanding what’s best to offer will be crucial for Go-Jek in a long term – to create the right ecosystem-enabled platform for each country.”
Go-Jek said in a statement that its operations in new markets will be run by local founding teams, while it will provide technological support and expertise.
“The local companies will determine their own brands and identities to ensure good traction in each new market,” the statement said.
Go-Jek reportedly raised around US$1.5 billion in its most recent funding round, with Google, JD, Meituan-Dianping, Tencent, and Temasek among the big-name investors to come on board.
Editing by Judith Balea
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