Indonesia’s Go-Jek plans experimentation as it expands fight with Grab in Southeast Asia
Go-Jek, Indonesia’s first billion-dollar tech start-up, will kick off its international foray with new operations in Vietnam and Thailand
Indonesian on-demand services provider Go-Jek is looking to ratchet up the expansion of its operations in Southeast Asia with “a lot of experimentation”, while competing against Singapore-based rival Grab across the region.
That strategy was borne out of necessity because most of Go-Jek’s data comes from its home market of Indonesia, which is the region’s most populous country with 262.8 million inhabitants as of this month.
Despite the lack of broader customer data, Go-Jek expects about 50 to 60 per cent of the user behaviour information it has from Indonesia is likely to apply to other markets in the region, according to company chief technology officer Ajey Gore, who spoke on a panel at last week’s Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
Go-Jek announced on Monday that it will open offices in Vietnam and Thailand as part of the “first wave of its international expansion”. The Thailand and Vietnam business units will be run by local founding management teams, while Go-Jek in Indonesia will provide the expertise, investment and technology.
Go-Jek, which started as a motorcycle ride-hailing service in 2010, now offers everything from meal deliveries to massage and home cleaning, all on demand and available through a super app.