GO-JEK Confirms Acquisition of Midtrans, Kartuku, and Mapan

Today GO-JEK finalized the acquisition of not one, not two, but three fintech startups at once. They are Midtrans, My Card, and Mapan with an undisclosed value. After the acquisition, the three companies will be independently consolidated under GO-JEK Group. Each company CEO will continue in his current role, but will also hold senior management positions within the GO-JEK Group. Broadly speaking, this step will help GO-JEK provide an inclusive payment ecosystem for financial institutions, corporations, SMEs, and also people who are familiar with banking services or not.

Rumors of this acquisition story have been heard for at least the last three months. I was argue acquisitions for Midtrans and Kartuku will help GO-PAY, GO-JEK's payment system, to have strong support from online and offline payment gateways. The addition of Mapan, previously known as Ruma, will help GO-JEK with its vision of the deal, encouraging financial inclusion to the wider community in Indonesia.

Together, these companies process financial transactions of IDR 67,5 trillion (approximately $5 billion) annually, via credit, debit cards and electronic wallets.

"Now is the time for GO-JEK to move forward into a new chapter. Through this acquisition, GO-JEK will collaborate with three leading national fintech companies in Indonesia that share the same vision and work ethic as us. This initiative is a strategic step in strengthening the foundation and our steps in the Indonesian fintech industry,” said the Founder and CEO GOJEK-Nadiem Makarim Group in its statement.

He continued, “We are very enthusiastic about welcoming Kartuku, Midtrans, and Mapan into the GO-JEK family. We have collaborated and followed their progress over the past few years and are looking forward to further collaborations to realize the same mission of driving Indonesia's economic growth and improving people's lives through the spirit of financial inclusion. This is in line with the aspirations of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to become the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia by 2020.”

Mapan CEO Aldi Haryopratomo will take up a new position within GO-JEK Group to lead GO-PAY, Midtrans CEO Ryu Suliawan will lead the Group's merchant platform, while Kartuku CEO Thomas Husted will be the new Group CFO.

Financial inclusion as a driver

The payment system plays an important role for today's digital companies to add new consumers, especially with the fact that credit card ownership is only less than 4% of the total population. GO-PAY is not the only player in this segment, but it is one of the most popular payment methods among digital consumers because of the convenience it offers for cashless payments in transportation, food delivery, package delivery, and other segments under GO management. -JACK.

GO-JEK Group President Andre Soelistyo said, "2018 will be the year where GO-PAY will develop beyond the GO-JEK ecosystem, providing payment services that are safe, convenient, easy, and reliable both offline and online." “This acquisition will accelerate GO-PAY's penetration and reach into the offline payment realm through Kartuku, the online payment realm through Midtrans, and increase financial inclusion for the unbanked through Mapan. This collaboration between national fintech companies within the GO-JEK Group will accelerate financial inclusion for millions of Indonesians and increase economic productivity across the country."

"After this acquisition, the management team and all employees of each company will operate as before, but can take advantage of the synergy as part of the GO-JEK Group," he said.

Late last month GO-JEK just launched GO-BILLS. Consumers can use GO-PAY to pay bills, initially for electricity bills and BPJS Health.

In August, GO-JEK also acquired Loket, an analytics and event management platform, which now manages GO-TIX, GO-JEK's ticketing and entertainment platform. This strategic move helps Counters innovate aggressively in the event segment.

GO-JEK said that currently it serves 15 million weekly active users with 900 thousand drivers throughout Indonesia, more than 125 merchants, and more than 100 million transactions processed on the platform per month.

GO-JEK is mentioned next year will be expand to Philippines.

Independently pursue the vision

Although now under GO-JEK Group, Ryu and Aldi confirmed to DailySocial that each company will continue to pursue its vision independently. Go-Pay, according to them, will help them to serve their customers better and accelerate their every mission.

Ryu also said that Prism, as well as other products under the management of Midtrans, will continue to serve the e-commerce market. "We remain committed to helping accelerate e-commerce in Indonesia," he said.

Aldi added, Mapan will continue to be developed to help more Indonesian families get the opportunity to enjoy community-based financial services. As part of the GO-JEK Group, Mapan can accelerate financial inclusion to the unbanked, especially those who live in rural areas where GO-JEK itself is not yet fully available.

GO-PAY will play an important role post-acquisition, but other payment methods will still be supported by Mapan and Midtrans. This will help people to still have a variety of payment options that are easy and convenient.

"As a mobile first country, we believe that digital payments will make more people reachable, both in cities and in remote villages. This is GO-JEK Group's effort to support and accelerate government programs related to financial inclusion and the digital economy."