Go-Jek gets $100m injection from Astra, forms transport JV

Go-Jek is forming a joint venture with Indonesian conglomerate Astra International in a deal that will see its existing investor pump a further US$100 million into the ride-hailing giant.

Photo credit: Go-Jek

Astra’s fresh capital injection is part of the first close of Go-Jek’s series F round, which is being led by previous backers Google, JD, and Tencent.

It first invested in Go-Jek as part of its series E round in February last year. Go-Jek confirmed in a statement today that Astra has invested a total of US$250 million to date.

Astra, which is majority-owned by Hong Kong trading house Jardine Matheson, has businesses in a number of verticals, including automotive.

Through their joint venture, Go-Jek and Astra will operate a fleet of several thousand cars, which will provide “online door-to-door transportation services.”

Each vehicle will have Astra’s fleet management software pre-installed, and will be “supported by ride-hailing technology in the Go-Jek app, specifically for Go-Car [it’s private car ride-hailing service].”

“The combination of Astra’s strength in the automotive sector and Go-Jek’s leading technology will open up more opportunities for people to grow their incomes and improve their welfare,” said Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim.

Go-Jek announced the first close of its ongoing series F round last month. While it didn’t reveal its fundraising target, some reports are pricing the round at US$2 billion, leading to a post-money valuation of US$9.5 billion.

The company did share some stats on the size of its business, however. It handled 2 billion transactions in 2018 on an annualized transaction volume basis, with over US$9 billion in annualized gross transaction value.

Go-Jek is now present in five markets, having expanded to Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam during the course of 2018. It has faced regulatory hurdles in launching ride-hailing services in the Philippines, but entered the country through its US$72 million acquisition of local fintech startup Coins.ph in January this year.