Indonesian network provider Telkomsel said on Monday that it invested another USD 300 million into Gojek, aiming to further integrate their digital services to benefit the customers of both companies and support small businesses.
Telkomsel CEO Setyanto Hantoro said that the firms will bring together their expertise for new developments in Indonesia’s digital industry. In November, the telco injected USD 150 million into Gojek with a convertible bond, and launched joint promotions and product bundles, as well as projects in the lifestyle sector.
Telkomsel’s advertisement service, MyAds, already works closely with GoBiz, allowing merchants on Gojek’s MSME-focused services GoFood, GoShop, and grocery service GoMart to target Telkomsel clients. Merchants can also become resellers for Telkomsel phone credit and data plans through the DigiPOS Aja! app. At present, there are 20,000 resellers on GoShop.
Gojek plans to further invest in services for small businesses this year. In 2020, it saw a fivefold increase in annualized GTV for its grocery service, as more people relied on it during the pandemic. As for GoFood, the number of registered merchants increased by 80% to 900,000.
The companies will also cooperate in gaming-related services by integrating GoPay, Gojek’s payment arm, with Dunia Games, Telkomsel’s app for game credit vouchers. Players of the mobile battle royale game PUBG Mobile, developed by Gojek-backer Tencent, can now buy credit using GoPay.
Even before the investment, the firms have been working together for some time. Telkomsel has been supplying Gojek’s driver-partners with affordable data packages since 2018. Gojek recently invested in LinkAja, a payment platform backed by Telkomsel, to reach more users in Indonesia’s lower-tier cities.
Telkomsel is the largest wireless carrier in Indonesia, with 171 million subscribers as of 2019, according to an annual report by its parent company, Telkom. Telkom is actively backing startups to expand its digital business and to support the digital transformation of Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises. Its investments include agritech firm TaniHub, the fintech platforms Amartha and Cermati, as well as logistics providers SiCepat and Paxel, which were either made directly or through its corporate VC arm MDI Ventures.
