SINGAPORE: Go-Jek has raised a higher than targeted $1.5 billion in a fundraising round from a dozen investors including BlackRock and Google, sources said, as the ride-hailing firm builds its war chest to fight deep-pocketed rivals.
Go-Jek had planned last year to raise $1.2 billion, and, with the 25 percent extra funds it has received, it is now valued at about $5 billion, according to the sources.
Reuters Breakingviews said last month Go-Jek was valued at roughly $4 billion compared to over $6 billion for Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing firm.
The additional funds and backing of well-known investors including Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings will help Go-Jek to better compete in Southeast Asia’s cut-throat market where incentives to drivers and passengers are used to build loyalty.
Singapore-based Grab was expected to have raised $2.5 billion last year and Uber Technologies has pledged to invest aggressively in Southeast Asia — home to 640 million people — even though the US firm expects to lose money in the fast growing market due to costly battles with rivals.
Both companies are expanding in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous country, where Go-Jek, a play on the local word for motorbike taxis, is transforming the local economy, economists say.
Go-Jek and Grab are also investing heavily in expanding their mobile payments platform.
“Go-Jek is far beyond a ride-hailing app, it’s a digital platform that dominates consumers’ daily lives, including transportation, food delivery, logistics, and payment, etc,” said Xiaofeng Wang, senior analyst at consultancy Forrester.
“That’s also the key value that its key investors like Google and Tencent see. They know well about the power of the digital ecosystem, and Go-Jek has built it in Indonesia, like Google in the US and WeChat in China,” Wang said.
Go-Jek told Reuters that some investments that came in this year were part of the funding round that kicked off last year but it declined to comment on the amount raised or the names of investors.
It said the funding was aimed at developing technology for micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia.
Go-Jek delivers everything from meals and groceries to cleaners, masseuses and hairdressers across Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta, all at the touch of a smartphone app — helping it become a crucial workaround in a city with some of the worst traffic in the world.
Sources said BlackRock and Temasek are investing about $100 million each in Go-Jek’s latest fundraising.
BlackRock declined to comment. A Temasek spokesman confirmed participation in the fundraising but declined to say how much it had invested.
This month, Indonesian conglomerate Astra International said it will invest $150 million in Go-Jek, while sources said Djarum Group’s PT Global Digital Niaga is putting in $100 million.
Go-Jek’s payment system, known as Go-Pay, has emerged as one of the most popular mobile payment platforms in Indonesia. Grab, which bought Indonesian payment service Kudo last year, also sees its future in mobile payments as much as in transport.
Go-Jek is expanding in other Indonesian cities and has said it plans to start operations in the Philippines this year, followed by other Southeast Asian countries.
Indonesia’s Go-Jek raises $1.5bn as ride-hailing market heats up
Indonesia’s Go-Jek raises $1.5bn as ride-hailing market heats up
Saudi stocks rebalance after Kingdom opens market to global investors
- Foreign access reforms trigger short-term volatility while underlying market fundamentals hold
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock market experienced a volatile first week following a landmark decision to fully open the market to foreign investors—a move analysts view as essential to funding the Kingdom’s sweeping economic transformation plans.
The Tadawul All Share Index began the week with a sharp decline, falling 1.89 percent on Feb. 1, the same day new regulations eliminating key restrictions on international investment officially came into force. The index rebounded the following session and remained in positive territory for three consecutive days before slipping once more, ultimately ending the week down 1.34 percent.
Ownership data from Tadawul as of Feb. 1 indicated that foreign non-strategic investors reduced their holdings in nearly half of the companies listed on the TASI. An analysis conducted by Al-Eqtisadiah’s Financial Analysis Unit showed that foreign ownership declined in 120 firms, increased in 97 others, and remained unchanged across the remainder. Despite these shifts, the total number of shares held by foreign investors showed no overall change.
Speaking to Arab News, economist Talat Hafiz addressed the initial volatility in the TASI, explaining: “Stock markets in the Kingdom and globally naturally experience fluctuations driven by profit-taking and price corrections.”
He added that the index’s decline and subsequent recovery “appears to be primarily the result of technical and sentiment-related factors rather than a direct reaction to the opening of the market to foreign investors.”
Hafiz emphasized that this was particularly evident given that foreign participation in the Saudi market is not entirely new, having previously existed under alternative regulatory structures.
The market turbulence coincided with sweeping reforms enacted by the Capital Market Authority and announced in January. These measures included the removal of the restrictive Qualified Foreign Investor framework, which had imposed a $500 million minimum asset requirement, as well as the elimination of swap agreements. The reforms aim to attract billions of dollars in fresh investment while improving overall market liquidity.
Hafiz noted that an initial surge of foreign capital was widely expected to generate short-term volatility as portfolios were rebalanced and liquidity dynamics adjusted. However, the rapid recovery of the index suggests that the market’s underlying fundamentals remained strong and that investor confidence was not significantly undermined.
Earlier in January, experts had told Arab News that the reforms could unlock as much as $10 billion in new foreign inflows. Tony Hallside, CEO of STP Partners, described the move as a pivotal evolution, signaling that the Kingdom is committed to building the most accessible, liquid, and globally integrated financial markets in the region.
Hafiz reinforced this optimistic outlook, stating that broader market access is likely to yield positive effects by boosting liquidity, widening participation, and supporting overall market recovery—ultimately contributing to greater long-term stability once near-term adjustments ease.
He said: “TASI’s swift rebound reflects the market’s constructive response to increased openness and deeper investor participation.”
Hafiz said he does not believe the market opening is primarily intended to function as a conventional financing channel. Instead, he argued that its broader objective lies in the internationalization of the Saudi market, a goal underscored by its inclusion in major global indices.
He explained that attracting foreign capital should be understood less as a short-term funding solution and more as a structural reform aimed at strengthening market depth, efficiency, transparency, and global integration.
The Saudi economist added that while increased foreign participation can indirectly support Vision 2030 by enhancing liquidity and reducing the cost of capital, the opening of the market is “not designed as a direct mechanism to revive or fast-track projects that may have faced funding constraints.”
Rather, it creates a more resilient, globally connected financial ecosystem that can sustainably support long-term development ambitions, according to Hafiz.
As the market continues to stabilize, investors and observers are monitoring which sectors are expected to attract the largest share of investment in the coming weeks and months.
Hafiz told Arab News that foreign investment is expected to initially focus on companies operating in strategically significant, high-growth sectors such as healthcare, transportation, and technology, in addition to mining, energy, and telecommunications.
He added that experienced foreign investors are likely to gravitate toward firms demonstrating strong financial disclosure practices, sound corporate governance, adherence to environmental, social and governance standards, and a track record of consistent dividend payouts.
