The super app that is worth 2% of the Indonesian economy

Gojek, an app for transportation and payment services, and the e-commerce company Tokopedia, have finalized their announced merger, creating GoTo Group, the largest business combination ever between two Asian companies. A super platform that will range from online shopping to couriers, passing through taxis, home deliveries and other related services, first in Southeast Asia to combine ecommerce, on-demand and financial services. “A combination of Amazon, DoorDash, Uber, Paypal and Stripe,” defined the executives of the new giant. GoTo is the answer to the Asian race for “super apps”, and takes the field determined to defeat the growing competition among tech companies in what is the fourth most populous country in the world. A new reality that is expanding its business in a market that has a population of 650 million consumers, especially in the world of online shopping, e-payment and food delivery, sectors driven beyond belief by the restrictions of pandemic that has forced millions of people into their homes. But which will also have to face rivals like Shopee and Grab, very strong in Southeast Asia, GoTo promises to be a unique giant of its kind. “Its particularity lies in its ability to cover two thirds of Indonesian consumer spending, while competitors cover at most one sector,” commented Tokopedia President Patrick Cao. With the merger, the number of active monthly users of the “super app” reaches 100 million, and brings together 11 million merchants and over 2 million riders. To bet on the partnership with international investors such as Facebook, Google, Alibaba, ready to focus on the success of GoTo Group, which alone will represent over 2% of the Indonesian economy, which with 1 trillion dollars is the largest in Southeast Asia. Both Gojeck and Tokopedia were born over a decade ago in the embryonic phase of the development of Indonesian ecommerce. Gojeck at launch was little more than a call center that collected orders and carried out deliveries by moped on Jakarta, Tokopedia in 2009 was a marketplace that connected small businesses. Both formed by a small group of friends in their early twenties, they are now a symbol of the “Indonesian dream”, as Tokopedia co-founder William Tanuwijaya himself recognizes. “Our goal has always been to build a company that creates a large-scale social impact, leveling the playing field for small businesses and offering consumers equal access to goods and services across the country.” Indonesian economy will be worth, according to projections, 124 billion dollars by 2025, while the value of the large online market in Southeast Asia is around 309 billion. The growth of the Indonesian economy proceeds sustained, but to succeed it must involve the 120 million citizens who live in the rural areas of the 17 thousand islands that make up the archipelago. Now the challenge is to reach them too: it is estimated that 47 million adults do not have access to basic financial services, 92 million have never used a bank. Bringing the digital economy to these people is the battle GoTo wants to fight.