Telkomsel, a unit of Indonesia’s state-owned and largest telecom operator Telkom, has invested an additional US $300 million in ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek, just months after the network provider wrote a $150 million check to the Southeast Asian firm.
The announcement comes amid Gojek, Indonesia's largest private tech company, working to seal a proposed merger with e-commerce platform Tokopedia. The $18 billion deal would result in a new entity called GoTo. Telkomsel’s investment today likely makes it one of GoTo’s top eight investors.
Both parties said in a joint statement that the additional investment has the approval and support of Telkomsel's shareholders, including Telkom Indonesia and Singtel.
According to the press release, both companies interpret this continued investment as a momentum to strengthen and deepen collaboration in presenting comprehensive digital services and creating more innovative solutions. The two companies will continue to encourage the use of cutting-edge technology more deeply in every aspect of life from all walks of life, it said.
President Director of Telkomsel Setyanto Hantoro said, "Telkomsel is optimistic that this latest investment effort will open up more opportunities for the public to see and enjoy more advanced technology-based innovations created by the nation's children."
Setyanto then explained that this corporate action was part of Telkomsel's strategy to strengthen the company's digital business trifecta, namely Digital Connectivity, Digital Platform, and Digital Services.
Gojek Group Co-CEO Andre Soelistyo said: “Telkomsel's continued funding will optimize the resources and technical expertise of each company to innovate and expand the benefits of the digital economy for more consumers, driver-partners and MSME players throughout Indonesia. We are both confident and committed that this partnership will support the acceleration of Indonesia's digital transformation which will strengthen Indonesia's position as the leader in the digital economy market in Southeast Asia."
This continued strategic investment action is supported by Telkomsel's shareholders, namely Telkom Indonesia and the Singtel Group, said the release. This is based on Telkomsel's vision of seeing this investment as an effort to strengthen its role as a leading digital telco company in developing the company's digital ecosystem to bring more use of appropriate digital technology to society, it added.
