All About The Deals Between Go-Jek And The Fintech Startup Coins.Ph For $72M 

The Start Of The Story

Even though faced with problems over the ownership structure, ride-hailing startup Go-Jek’s expansion into the Philippines isn’t deterring the Indonesian company from investing in the cryptocurrency market. Go-Jek has announced that it acquired the local fintech company Coins.ph through substantial investment giving it a majority stake in the business. Even though officially undisclosed, the deal is understood from two industry sources that Go-Jek paid $ 72 million making it Go-Jek’s biggest outlay on an acquisition to date, although most of the past deals are also undisclosed. 

Claiming five million registered users in the Philippines, the startup offers a mobile digital wallet covering payments, phone top-up, bill payment, public transport rides and more. The company will continue to run post-deal while tapping into Go-Jek’s resources and experience.

Right From The CEO 

According to CEO and co-founder, Ron Hose, the Coin.ph is in the process of raising a new round of funding when the Go-Jek opportunity is presented by itself. With a decision on how to continue growing the business, it is felt like ultimately together with Go-Jek building something that is overall bigger and better for the customers is underway.

Pivoting to a broader focus on fintech, Coins.ph started by offering crypto exchange services including mobile payments and financial services recently. Raising $10 million from two investments, the company counts Naspers, Global Brain, Wavemaker, Beenext and Pantera Capital among its backers.

More On The Strategic Acquisitions By Go-Jek

Clearly, a strategic one for Go-Jek the acquisition is reportedly valued at around $9 billion marks. It is claimed that by expanding beyond Indonesia, it is sure to be the dominant player for the first time, where the overseas moves saw it enter Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore along with the Philippines named another proposed destination taking longer than planned with no launch yet.

Certainly, it doesn’t sound like an obvious point of entry for a ride-hailing company but Fintech in Southeast Asia are peas in a pod. The rise of its GoPay service as a part of Go-Jek’s success in Indonesia enables money transfers, offline payment, and even insurance and microloans, where the company is said to half of the transactions on the network in Indonesia is made via the payment service.

The situation is ripe with Grab, Go-Jek’s arch-rival, taking the approach of rolling out its Grab Pay service across Southeast Asia’s biggest six countries with plans to enter areas like loans, remittance and insurance with partners such as the Chinese digital insurer ZhongAn.

To encourage a cashless society with enhancing access to financial services in the Philippines, Go-Jek said that Coins.ph will work closely with GoPay. Coins.th, on the other hand, likely continue operating as it is currently and the Thai entry has fewer locations than the Philippines business as it is likely less appealing to Go-Jek despite its expansion to Thailand. 

Whereas the GoPay collaboration comes out likely to mean the rollout of services such as insurance, loan and other financial services as well as deepening Coins.ph user base in the Philippines a country with a population of more than 105 million people.

Adding To The Current Acquisitions

According to Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim, as it comes with the second largest population and a strong domestic economy, the Philippines is one of the most exciting markets in Southeast Asia through a partnership with Coins.ph humbled to take part in the country’s digital payments transformation.

He added that the announcement is sure to mark the start of the long term commitment to the Philippines and a continuation of the mission to use technology to improve everyday lives creating a positive social impact. There’s plenty of competition at the forefront though.

While it is readying its GrabPay entry, Grab comes with a well-funded Oriente as already Alibaba invested in the payment and fintech company Mynt while Tencent is China’s other internet superpower and Go-Jek investor along with being backed by rival service Voyager through a $ 215 million deal. Readying a $ 2billion investment round on its own, Go-Jek is entering the fray promising to be an interesting one for fintech in the Philippines. 

Closing Lines On The Acquisition

Including offline payment firm Kartulu, the past Go-Jek acquisitions include payment gateway Midtrans and payment and lending network Mapan announced all at once. Whereas in India, it has gone after engineering talent with acqui-hire deals for startups C42, CodeIgnition and Piant having helped create its Bangalore based tech hub. Hereby the fintech is being run under a pivotal regulation by Go-Jek. Keep the fingers crossed while you watch the play on stage.