Google announced today they have invested in GO-JEK, one of Indonesia’s leading start-ups, as the company looks to support the Southeast Asian nation’s internet growth.
Go-JEK started as a motorcycle ride-hailing phone service in 2010 but has now become an on-demand mobile platform and app providing services including transportation, logistics, payments and food services.
Go-Jek has expanded quickly with the backing of investors such as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, KKR and Sequioa. Today they are, Uber’s and Singapore-based company Grab, biggest competitor, operating in 50 cities across Indonesia.
The investment in the ride-hailing firm is a first for Google and is part of their strategy of creating partnerships with Asia to be driven from a special Google department in the US.
Indonesia, home to four of Southeast Asia’s eight “unicorns”, has 133 million people online, and has the world’s fifth largest population, presenting a substantial opportunity for companies seeking to expand their user base. It was also the second country in the world to get a Google Station with the aim of delivering high-quality public WiFi to the population and one of the first countries to get the new app Google Go – makes searching the internet faster and simpler for Indonesians on slow connections.
Indonesia internet growth has been strong and is supporting a thriving startup scene. Google’s investment marks their aim to increase this growth. They want to help Indonesians to build the next great startups and they have already been training about 60,000 on mobile app development. By 2020 they aim to reach the goal of more than 100,000.
“This investment lets us partner with a great local champion in Indonesia’s flourishing startup ecosystem, while also deepening our commitment to Indonesia’s internet economy,” said Caesar Sengupta, VP, Next Billion Users Team in Google’s blog.