KKR, Warburg Pincus join $550m round for Indonesia's Go-Jek

An unspecified number of existing backers also took part in the round. Sequoia Capital India, Northstar Group, DST Global, NSI Ventures, Rakuten Ventures and Formation Group are among those that have previously invested in the start-up. The investment reportedly values Go-Jek at $1.2 billion post-money.

Founded in 2011, Go-Jek takes its name from the ojek motorcycle taxis that are part of urban life in Indonesia. NSI - the VC affiliate of Northstar - participated in a Series A round for the company three years after inception, when its call center-based service was about to be re-launched as a mobile app. Northstar joined the Series B and C rounds, although the timing of these investments has not been disclosed. Sequoia said it first backed the company in 2015.

Over the past three years, Go-Jek has expanded from taxi and courier services into food delivery. It has also entered online-to-offline local services whereby the app locates the cleaner, masseuse or beautician closest to the customer's home and a Go-jek driver ferries them over. The latest addition to the platform is Go-Pay, an e-wallet solution designed for a market in which credit card penetration is below 2%.

Go-Jek apps had been downloaded more than 20 million times as of June, while the company recorded 20 million bookings across its platform in that month alone. The Go-Ride motorcycle transportation service now has more than 200,000 drivers while the food delivery service has transported over 15 million meals since launch. The latest investment will help the company continue its expansion across these and other verticals.

Terence Lee, a director at KKR, noted in a statement that Go-Jek is the number-one service provider across almost all key categories thanks to its convenient and cost-effective solutions. Jeffrey Perlman, head of Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus, added: "With a rapidly expanding middle class, increasing urban density and a young demographic that is internet savvy, Go-Jek is well positioned to become the ‘go to' platform for high frequency daily services including transport, food, logistics and payment."

KKR is making the investment through its second pan-Asian fund, which closed at $6 billion in 2013. The Warburg Pincus commitment comes from the firm's 13th global fund, a 2015 vintage vehicle with a corpus of $12 billion.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• TMT
• Transportation
• KKR
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• Growth capital
• Indonesia
• NSI Ventures
• Northstar Group
• Sequoia Capital