Indonesia’s two most valuable startups are set to form a holding company called GoTo, of which Gojek’s shareholders will have 58% and Tokopedia’s owners the rest, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private. Patrick Cao, president of Tokopedia, will retain that title at the new entity, they said.
GoTo will have three business units: ride-hailing provider Gojek; e-commerce arm Tokopedia; and payments and financial services under the title of Dompet Karya Anak Bangsa, or DKAB, the people said. William Tanuwijaya, CEO of Tokopedia, will continue to lead the online shopping pioneer he founded in 2009, while Gojek co-CEO Kevin Aluwi will continue to helm Gojek. Group CEO Soelistyo will head the payments and financial services unit DKAB, they said.
Gojek was started as a call center in 2010 by entrepreneur Nadiem Makarim to arrange courier deliveries in Jakarta. Everything was manual: employees called motorbike drivers one by one until someone accepted an order. Makarim worked at other startups so he could keep the fledgling operation alive.