Indonesia’s Go-Jek to expand abroad, on track to clash with Grab

Bloomberg

Go-Jek, Indonesia’s first billion-dollar startup, is looking to
expand its ride-hailing services to three to four countries in Southeast Asia, escalating its
rivalry with Grab and Uber Technologies Inc.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Nadiem Makarim didn’t specify the countries or services that Go-Jek will target, but said in an interview they will be places with a large population and where cash rules, hinting that Go-Jek’s digital payment service will be a key part of its push into new markets. Singapore-based Grab, aided by massive funding from SoftBank Group Corp. and China’s Didi Chuxing, has pushed aggressively onto Go-Jek’s home turf. Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest on-demand transport company with operations in seven countries, is run by Anthony Tan, Makarim’s former classmate at Harvard Business School. For Go-Jek, this will be its first foray outside its home country.
“We’ve always been on the defensive,” Makarim said in Jakarta, without saying when Go-Jek would expand.
“It’s time to bring competition to their doorsteps.”
After Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand have the most number of people in the region, with a combined population of about
270 million. Go-Jek and Grab have rolled out mobile digital-payment services, seeing it
as a way to scale their businesses and build a potentially lucrative business by offering financial services to a large number of people with little access to banking.