Facebook, PayPal back Indonesian start-up Gojek’s Asia digital payments push

The deal announced Wednesday marks Facebook’s first investment in an Indonesian company and is a major boost for Gojek, the country’s largest start-up

It is the second international investment Facebook has made in the past six weeks with a goal of getting more local businesses online

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Gojek drivers sit on their motorcycles along a street in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:38pm, 3 Jun 2020Updated: 2:40pm, 3 Jun 2020

Facebook and PayPal Holdings are investing in Gojek, a big boost for the Indonesian start-up’s digital payments business that propels the US companies into a fast-growing Asian internet arena.

It is the second international investment Facebook has made in the past six weeks with a goal of getting more local businesses online, after the social media giant paid US$5.7 billion for about 10 per cent of India’s Reliance Jio.

It plans to build a commerce and payments business around WhatsApp, on top of letting businesses use the messaging service to interact with customers.

The deal announced Wednesday marks Facebook’s first investment in an Indonesian company and is a major boost for the country’s largest start-up, a ride-hailing giant that has morphed into a provider of services like payments and meal delivery.

Gojek is now backed by some of the world’s largest internet companies from Alphabet’s Google to China’s Tencent Holdings, helping it compete against Singapore’s Grab Holdings.

“WhatsApp in particular can be instrumental in creating a more digital Indonesia by bringing more people into one of the fastest growing digital economies in the world,” Facebook said in a blog post. The company did not specify how much it is investing and a spokesperson declined to share details.