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E-wallet LinkAja receives Gojek investment
With the latest investment from Gojek, LinkAja has raised a total investment of more than US$100 million through its series B funding. The investment came after ride-hailing company Grab led a $100 million funding for LinkAja in November last year.
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State-backed e-wallet LinkAja has secured an investment commitment from Indonesian ride-hailing decacorn Gojek.
With this latest investment, LinkAja has raised a total investment of more than US$100 million through its series B funding. The state-backed fintech start-up, legally PT Fintek Karya Nusantara (Finarya), did not disclose the exact amount of investment from Gojek.
LinkAja chief executive Haryati Lawidjaja said the company expected to expand its services to other verticals within Gojek’s platform, which currently uses LinkAja to pay for passenger transportation services and ticket reservations.
Gojek’s platform offers a range of other services including food delivery, logistics and bill payments.
“Through this strategic partnership, we hope we can have a bigger and broader impact on Indonesia’s economy,” Haryati was quoted in a news release as saying on Tuesday.
Gojek’s investment took place after rival ride-hailing decacorn Grab announced in November last year that it was investing in LinkAja. Singapore-based Grab is leading the Series B round alongside state-owned cellular operator Telkomsel and state-owned venture capital firms BRI Ventura Investama and Mandiri Capital Indonesia.
Read also: Grab leads $100m funding round for LinkAja, builds R&D center in Indonesia
Grab said in a statement on Nov. 10 last year that its investment was expected to help LinkAja expand its presence within Indonesia’s aspiring middle class and its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The investment comes at a time when the country is seeing growth in e-money services. Bank Indonesia expects e-money transaction values to grow 32.3 percent year-on-year to Rp 226 trillion ($15.6 billion) this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an increase in digital consumers. Of all digital consumers, 37 percent of them are new and the majority of them are planning to continue using at least one digital service even after the pandemic subsides, according to the “e-Conomy SEA 2020” report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.
Gojek, which had booked 190 million downloads for its mobile app as of September last year, expects the partnership with LinkAja to boost cashless transactions in the country and reach more consumers and businesses, according to co-CEO Andre Soelistyo.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread impact has stressed the importance of digital payment in our everyday lives, which makes this collaboration very timely,” said Andre.
LinkAja, which is owned by several giant state-owned enterprises (SOEs) including Telkomsel, Pertamina, Bank Mandiri and BRI, also plans to leverage these SOEs’ ecosystems to expand its operations.
