How could the Grab-Gojek merger impact Gojek in Vietnam?

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Witnessing Gojek’s venture into Vietnam is like watching a chess match: You see the company attempting to pull off moves like a Queen’s Gambit on the board, only for its maneuvers to keep getting countered and things to just get more complicated.

Gojek is far from being a super app in Vietnam. The Indonesian decacorn had entered the country through its brand GoViet in September 2018, but it lost two CEOs within a year and managed to offer only three services: GoBike, GoSend and GoFood.

A recent rebranding was meant to rescue Gojek’s overseas ambitions. However, with Grab and Gojek now reported to be potentially merging, could this be the end of the road for the Gojek brand outside of Indonesia?

Today we look at:

• What a merger with Grab could mean for Gojek in Vietnam
• A report on what tech employees are looking for in a company
• Other newsy highlights such as Indonesian driver unions threatening to protest over the possible Grab-Gojek merger and Tokopedia potentially riding on the SPAC boom

PREMIUM SUMMARY

What would Gojek’s fate in Vietnam be with a Grab merger?

With the Grab-Gojek merger still far from getting finalized, questions are being raised about Gojek’s regional aspirations, particularly in Vietnam. You see, Gojek launched in the country at a time when Grab wasn’t doing so well as it was in a lawsuit and scrutinized by regulators over its acquisition of Uber. Many had high hopes for the Indonesian giant, but Gojek hasn’t been able to match them.

• Opportunistic, but not enough: Gojek lost time in its previous international expansion strategy. Instead of running just one app, the firm was managing multiple companies and building everything from scratch. Marketing money was also reported to not have been spent efficiently.
• Fintech is a problem: The firm entered the cashless market only in September after acquiring a majority stake in local e-wallet company WePay. Grab already had a similar partnership with Moca in 2018, and the space is packed with major players such as VNPay, Momo, and ZaloPay.
• More challengers appeared: Gojek also faced tougher ride-hailing regulations as well as stiffer competition from local competitors like Be and EMDDI, a ride-hailing management platform for taxi companies. Its food delivery business also has strong rivals in Baemin, which is backed by South Korean tech unicorn Woowa Brothers, and Sea Group’s food delivery service Now, not to mention GrabFood.

Read more: Will Gojek’s ambitions in Vietnam survive a merger?

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