Indonesian e-commerce unicorn Tokopedia to build ‘super ecosystem’ after Bridestory acquisition

Indonesian wedding services marketplace Bridestory made headlines when it was acquired by Tokopedia, the country’s largest e-commerce platform, in June this year.

What started as a discussion in late 2018 about a potential collaboration between Kevin Mintaraga, Bridestory’s co-founder and chief executive, and William Tanuwijaya, co-founder and chief executive of Tokopedia, eventually led to the e-commerce unicorn’s “proposal” to acquire the online wedding marketplace operator. The deal was made on the back of the similar values, passion and mission shared by the two companies.

The transaction was a major milestone for Tokopedia, which marked its 10th anniversary this year, as it evolves beyond e-commerce to become a “super ecosystem”. Jakarta-based Tokopedia wants to build a complete infrastructure to support and collaborate with various users, merchants and partners, representing a strategy to help drive changes and further grow the digital economy of Southeast Asia’s most populous country.

For Bridestory, which was the first publicly known corporate acquisition by Tokopedia, the deal opens a new horizon in its industry. “We’ll be able to accelerate the business much faster,” said Doni Hanafi, co-founder and chief operating officer of Bridestory, in a recent interview with KrASIA. He described the acquisition as an opportunity for the firm to broaden the scope of its services.

Three months into that acquisition, the operations of Bridestory have meshed with Tokopedia’s. Using the e-commerce company’s own payments infrastructure, the vendors and users on Bridestory’s online marketplace have access to more than 30 payment channels, including the electronic wallet of Tokopedia partner Ovo.