Letter to readers: Gojek’s big shot in the arm

Dear readers,

Gojek has been getting some much-needed good news lately. It announced that it has raised around US$800 million in the span of a few months, adding Facebook and PayPal to its slate of investors. Yesterday, it secured more money for its entertainment spinoff, GoPlay.

What does all this amount to? A lot – in Indonesia, at least, where Gojek’s leading position could become more secure. But the situation is more complicated for the rest of Southeast Asia, as Aditya Hadi and I explained last week in our analysis.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia Indonesia

The GoPlay investment is notable as well in light of Iflix’s and Hooq’s struggles. What is Gojek doing differently? We’ll be taking a closer look.

Here’s a look at the rest of the premium stories we’ve published:

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The shared powerbank was once – and still is – derided as a startup idea that’s doomed to fail. A few companies, however, appear to be forcing critics to eat their words (and poop). With Meituan-Dianping jumping back into the fray, the space just got a huge jolt of energy.

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50 rising startups in China, Meet the 20 top-funded fintech companies in Southeast Asia

Check out our popular lists to help you keep track of the funding action in Asia.

To read these articles and more, do consider subscribing. See you next week!

Cheers,

Terence Lee
Chief Editor