After a decade, Gojek says it’s generating positive gross margins

Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Gojek said that all its services are generating positive margins on a product basis, indicating a path to profitability.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia Indonesia

The company attributed this to its targeted investments in talent, infrastructure, and automation, which in turn improved its efficiency and quality across areas including merchant onboarding features, automated customer care, pricing algorithms, and the allocation of supply to match demand.

Gojek claims that its businesses grew despite the pandemic. With around 38 million monthly active users across the region, the company’s annualized gross transaction value (GTV) rose by 10% to hit over US$12 billion compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, the GTV of its payments-related businesses has exceeded pre-pandemic levels as more consumers and merchants turn to digital services.

Moving forward, the Indonesia-based super app said it will focus on developing its food merchant ecosystem, which has seen an 80% increase. The company’s registered food merchants reached 900,000, increasing from 500,000 from a year before. This is mainly driven by the digitalization of microbusinesses as well as small and medium-sized enterprises amid Covid-19.

Merchants continue to be at the forefront of Gojek’s growth plan, and it will open up new revenue streams for businesses. Its grocery business, for example, had expanded during the pandemic and the company claims it has seen a 500% growth in annualized GTV.

Gojek will also continue to invest in technology and talent, unify its international platform, and expand to more countries.

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“As we look to the future, users can expect to see a deepened commitment to supporting small businesses through enhanced payments and financial services offering that will propel them through this difficult period and support ongoing growth as they join and thrive within Southeast Asia’s digital economy,” said Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo.

In June, Gojek raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Facebook, PayPal, Google, and Tencent to develop its digital payments and financial services. Last month, it was reported that PT Telekomunikasi Selular was weighing a US$150 million investment in the company.