Motorcycle-taxi service PT Go-Jek Indonesia will invest $500 million to expand its operations in Southeast Asia, revving up competition in a fast-growing consumer market just two months after Uber Technologies Inc. reached a landmark deal to exit from the region.
The Indonesian company said in a statement Thursday it plans to enter Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines in the next few months and is currently working with regulators and stakeholders across the region.
Go-Jek will initially offer motorcycle-hailing services in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, and provide traditional taxi services in Singapore, where motorcycle taxis aren’t permitted, a company spokesman said. The move, in effect, puts Go-Jek in direct competition with regional market leader Grab Inc.
“Consumers are happiest when they have choice and at the moment, people in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines don’t feel that they’re getting enough when it comes to ride-hailing,” Nadiem Makarim, co-founder and chief executive of Go-Jek, said in a statement.
Competition authorities in the Philippines and Singapore are examining the proposed Uber-Grab deal in Southeast Asia on concerns that the consolidation could give Grab a near monopoly in those markets. The region’s ride-hailing market is forecast to grow to $13.1 billion by 2025 from $2.5 billion in 2015, according to a report by Google and Singapore state-investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.
Go-Jek, which launched its app in 2015, said the ultimate aim is to replicate the multiple-service business model that made it popular in Indonesia.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Beawiharta/File Photo