After months of speculation, Gojek has officially acquired Jakarta-based point-of-sale service provider Moka. As reported by the local publication Kontan, Gojek has registered the merger with the country’s Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU). According to government regulation concerning mergers and acquisitions, companies need to report any merger, consolidation, as well as takeovers to the KPPU, no later than 30 working days after the effective date.
KPPU commissioner Guntur Saragih confirmed the news to KrASIA, saying that it has received the report from Gojek on April 9.
Moka was founded in 2014 by Haryanto Tanjo and Grady Laksono who serve as the company’s CEO and CTO, respectively. The firm is one of the pioneers in Indonesia’s fintech scene and has raised close to USD 30 million from big-name investors including East Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Softbank Ventures Korea, and others.
The news of the acquisition was first reported by KrASIA in August 2019, and in December, Bloomberg informed that the deal was worth at least USD 120 million.
Gojek’s digital wallet GoPay has signed up more than 420,000 merchants, while Moka has a client base of around 40,000 retailers across Indonesia. By joining one of the largest platforms, Moka will have access to a broader merchant network.
As for Gojek, the company aims to lead Indonesia’s digital payment sector by locking in as many partners as possible. Its biggest competitor Grab is already cashing in on the SME segment after acquiring Kudo’s online-to-offline platform in 2017, which it has since rebranded into GrabKios by Kudo.
Gojek and Moka have yet to respond to KrASIA’s request for comment.
Collaborative project to help SMEs
In the absence of an official merger announcement, Gojek and Moka on Monday launched a collaborative project named “support local brands ID”. In partnership with customer retention platform Tada, Gojek and Moka are offering discounted vouchers through the Gojek app and the official website, calling for support of suffering local businesses.
Consumers can choose vouchers from hundreds of merchants of various segments such as food and beverage, fashion and beauty, personal health, as well as lifestyle, and hotels. The partners do not collect any fees from the transactions; all money will go directly to the local enterprises, according to an official statement. “This collaboration is one of our initiatives to help businesses that are facing difficult times. Through the #supportlocalbrandsID program, we hope that small-business owners can maintain a positive cash flow during the pandemic,” Moka’s CEO Haryanto Tanjo said in the statement.