Gojek and Tokopedia’s wild ride to become GoTo

Every day, 100k+ smart people read our newsletter. You can sign up here.

Hi readers,

Around 10 years ago in Indonesia, two groups of friends decided to launch their businesses – startups that we know today as super app Gojek and ecommerce major Tokopedia. It got me wondering, what exactly was I doing a decade ago? At 19 years old, I was fresh out of polytechnic with a diploma and began working as a teacher assistant because I loved kids. Yep, past tense, because I changed my mind after one year into the job.

Anyway, ever since Gojek and Tokopedia launched, they have gone through good times and rough patches. Today, the two have merged and became a titan with a valuation of US$18 billion.

So we look at,

• The history of Gojek and Tokopedia before GoTo
• How a research team is developing a system to charge wearables through human body
• Other newsy highlights such as how China’s streaming platforms are blaming short-video apps for hurting their business and BookMyShow’s latest job cuts

PREMIUM SUMMARY

Where were Gojek and Tokopedia before they got married?

Indonesian super app Gojek and ecommerce major Tokopedia merged last month to become the country’s new tech titan, GoTo. Both of them were started by a group of friends in their 20s and have amassed billions of dollars in funding over the years. (Cue “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey.) Here’s what they have gone through to reach where they are today.

• The start: Tokopedia was launched in 2009 and had struggled for two years before finally raising its seed funding. On the other hand, Gojek was founded in 2010 as a call center with only 20 ojek or motorcycle taxi drivers.
• The period between 2014 to 2015 was significant because Tokopedia became the first tech company in Southeast Asia to raise US$100 million in funding while Gojek rolled out its mobile app that provides transportation, courier, and shopping services, slowly building its super-app title.
• The products: Ever since its app debuted in 2015, Gojek has been releasing new services like rapid-fire from GoMassage in 2016, GoBills in 2017, to GoFitness in 2019. On the flipside, Tokopedia only started introducing new services last year.

Read more: Visual: How a decade of work led to the GoTo merger

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

Transmitting power through the human body?