GO-JEK to Team up with Three P2P Lending Companies

Ride-hailing firm GO-JEK will be teaming up with three peer-to-peer (P2P) lending companies as part of its plans to expand its financial technology services in Indonesia.

Announcing on Tuesday the collaboration with Indonesian P2P lenders Findaya, Dana Cita, and Aktivaku, GO-JEK President Andre Soelistyo stated that they believe a strong alliance between financial services providers and tech firms can reach more people who are struggling to access financial services.

The partnership with P2P lenders would be separate from the GO-PAY payment vertical, according to GO-JEK.  

P2P lending is an internet-based business that offers small-business owners and individuals usually unable to use bank credit, another way to request for loans.

The platform has so far been well accepted by Indonesia’s financial watchdogs which saw it to be providing a much needed service to cash-strapped businesses and customers at a time when Southeast Asia's biggest economy is being squeezed by slow activity in bank lending.   

The emergence of P2P lending has helped reduce a financing loss of more than $73 billion in Indonesia, a country with a population of over 250 million people.

Hendrikus Passagi, who supervises fintech for an Indonesian regulator, said GO-JEK’s partnership the three P2P lending companies is a very positive to boost financial inclusion in Indonesia. 

GO-JEK Racing against Grab for Dominance in Indonesia

GO-JEK is also in a race against Singaporean ride-hailing group GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd., which acquired the Southeast Asian business of Uber Technologies Inc. earlier this year.

Aiming to strengthen its position in Indonesia, Grab stated in August that it intends to invest $250 million in Indonesian startups for the next three years through its newly introduced innovation unit.

Grab’s managing director for Indonesia Ridzki Kramadibrata said the company, which has Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing Technology Co. and Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group Corp. as its backers, has already began looking at startups and will start funding rounds later this year.

GO-JEK’s backers include household names such as Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Grab is currently on the top spot in the ride-hailing industry, according to Kramadibrata, and is holding 65 percent of Indonesia’s ride-hailing market, as based on total rides and transactions.  

Since its release in 2010, GO-JEK has rapidly grown from just a ride-hailing app to a one-stop app.

The firm already offers various app-based services including food and grocery delivery as well as movie tickets. GO-JEK’s payment system GO-PAY has also been recognized as one of the most popular mobile payment platforms in Indonesia.     

GO-JEK founder Nadiem Makarim said last month the company’s monthly users were at 20 million to 25 million, for whom it processes more than 100 million transactions. In 2017, the company bought three smaller payment system fintech firms.

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