A combination between the two highly valued Indonesian tech companies Gojek and Tokopedia would be welcomed among the driver community. The drivers expect the consolidation to increase the frequency of orders and new channels of income to emerge in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman of the Gojek-Garuda Sakti driver community, Theresia I. Prismiar, said that if the merger occurs, millions of driver-partners will get additional income opportunities through instant or same-day delivery services on the Tokopedia platform.
“There will be more orders to come in, so we can choose which order we’ll take. In addition to GoSend bookings from Gojek users, we can also take GoSend orders from Tokopedia’s customers,” Prismiar said in a press statement.
A similar expectation was expressed by Irwanto, Chairman of Gojek driver community in the North area. “If this happens, they’ll have more business as Gojek focuses on logistics, while Tokopedia concentrates on e-commerce. This will certainly benefit drivers,” he said.
According to media reports, a deal between two of the country’s largest startups would value the combined entity at more than USD 18 billion or IDR 252 trillion. The joint venture would have a wide range of business offerings, from transportation to payment, to online shopping, and shipping.
This article first appeared in Tempo.