Traveloka ramps up food delivery business as it prepares for its IPO

Traveloka, the Indonesian travel unicorn, is ramping up its food delivery business as it prepares for an initial public offering. The company appears to be onboarding new restaurants onto its Traveloka Eats platform, while also hiring in-house delivery couriers.

Traveloka Eats “now spans from restaurant directory and reviews to dining vouchers to in-restaurant ordering and food delivery – enabling us to provide an integrated solution for our users’ food-related needs,” Caesar Indra, Traveloka’s president, says in a statement. “We have seen strong user interest in our Eats business, particularly as more people increased adoption of digital services during the pandemic.”

Photo credit: Traveloka

Traveloka Eats initially started out as a restaurant directory and review platform. It started to quietly offer deliveries late last year through a partnership with logistics company Lalamove. Both companies share an investor in Hillhouse Capital.

The business would also provide the company, which has been hit severely by the Covid-19 pandemic, with a new revenue stream as it awaits the travel industry’s recovery. Food delivery has been a key revenue driver for Gojek and Grab when their ride-hailing businesses were impacted by the pandemic.

Still, the space Traveloka is joining is an increasingly crowded one. Aside from incumbents GoFood and GrabFood, ShopeeFood also recently entered the fray as it aims to replicate its success in the e-wallet space.

According to a terms and conditions document reviewed by Tech in Asia, the travel unicorn is charging merchants 15% per order. This rate is lower than GoFood’s and GrabFood’s, both of which charge 20%.

For Traveloka, food deliveries could be a way to boost user numbers and valuation multiple as the company prepares for a listing in the US. Compared to flights or hotel bookings, food delivery has a relatively higher order frequency, (albeit with thinner margins).

Most recently, the company is said to be in advanced talks to go public by merging with Bridgetown Holdings, a SPAC backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel. The deal could bring Traveloka’s valuation to US$5 billion.

Update (4 May, 4:30pm SGT): Added Traveloka statement.