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Chinese firm ‘in talks’ to invest big in Tokopedia
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Alibaba's founder and executive chairman Jack Ma delivering a speech at a conference announcing the cooperation between Alibaba and Suning in Nanjing, eastern China's Jiangsu province, on Aug. 10, 2015. (AFP/-)
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D.com Inc., Alibaba’s fiercest rival in Chinese e-commerce, is in talks to make a major investment in Indonesia’s PT Tokopedia to speed up its expansion into Southeast Asia’s largest economy, people familiar with the matter said.
JD is in early-stage negotiations to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in one of Indonesia’s largest online marketplaces, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the deal is private.
JD’s potential investment may propel Jakarta-based Tokopedia past US$1 billion in valuation, another person familiar with the deal said.
A successful deal with Tokopedia will take JD’s competition with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to Indonesia, an oil-rich country of 260 million that’s experiencing a surge in smartphone usage and middle-class affluence. It would be buying into a local ally ahead of a potential push into the region by Amazon.com Inc.
China’s two biggest e-commerce players have both poured major sums into Southeast Asia, capped by Alibaba’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Lazada Group SA last year.
Unlike Alibaba and fellow Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., JD has tended to grow its business organically, relying on its own networks of shippers and delivery-people to control quality and service.
The Beijing-based company, backed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had likewise chosen to build its Indonesian business from scratch.
