Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo set to head Indonesian app giant after Tokopedia merger

Indonesia’s two most valuable start-ups are set to form a holding company called GoTo with three business units: Gojek, Tokopedia and DKAB

The tie-up between the ride-hailing provider and e-commerce company will create the largest internet company in the world’s fourth most-populous nation

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Andre Soelistyo’s relationship with Gojek began when he was working at private-equity firm Northstar Group, which became the first institutional investor in the upstart in its early days. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:04pm, 19 Apr 2021Updated: 8:07pm, 19 Apr 2021

Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo is set to head the Indonesian app giant to be created when the transport and delivery provider merges with e-commerce company PT Tokopedia, according to people familiar with the matter.

Indonesia’s two most valuable start-ups are set to form a holding company called GoTo, of which Gojek’s shareholders will have 58 per cent 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.

In picking Soelistyo, the merged company that is targeting a valuation of up to US$40 billion is betting on a former private-equity investor to keep the business growing. Soelistyo, 37, has spearheaded Gojek’s diversification into consumer services and overseen more than US$5 billion of fundraising from investors including Google, Tencent Holdings, Astra International, KKR & Co. and Warburg Pincus.

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.

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