To compete with Grab Holdings, Gojek has beaten tech industry tumult amid the coronavirus pandemic and notched $1.2 billion in fundraising, Bloomberg reported.
The new funding was made final as the coronavirus accelerated its growth during the past week and brought about market routs throughout the world.
Co-CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi said per an internal document cited by the report, “We’re not stopping there as we are still seeing strong demand among the investment community to partner with us. There are a number of exciting ongoing conversations that we will be able to update you on very soon.”
The new fundraising of Gojek represents one of the biggest deals to come to fruition as of the outbreak of the coronavirus earlier this year in China. In addition, it has occurred as investors have become more cautious when it comes to valuations in tech.
Grab and Gojek are in a rivalry that extends past ridesharing in Southeast Asia. The firms seek to be the default app of consumers for all use cases.
The news comes as Grab and Gojek are reportedly in talks regarding a possible merger. The management teams of both companies, including Soelistyo and Grab President Ming Maa, have had intense talks regarding a potential combination.
A merger would make one of the most valued upstarts, with a value for Grab at $14 billion and a value for Gojek at $9 billion. The companies, however, deny that the discussions are occurring.
A spokesperson for Gojek, however, told Tech in Asia earlier this year, “There are no plans for any sort of merger, and recent media reports regarding discussions of this nature are not accurate.”
Last month, Grab announced a new fundraising round. The company notched $856 million fromMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) of Japan and TIS Inc., an IT services company.
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