11th December 2018

Asia

Indonesian Transport Giant Invests in a Next-Gen Mobile Gaming Platform

Sources say the deal is already done, and it would be a massive hit for other super apps like WeChat and Facebook Messenger.

Based in Jakarta, Go-Jek the largest ride-hailing and logistics startup in Indonesia, holds the distinction of being the country’s first unicorn company with a total valuation of US$5 billion according to Fortune Magazine. Enjoying financial backing from Google and Temasek, it also has commercial operations in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

Now, Go-Jek wants to enter in the eGaming business with a recent financing round of US$30 million to Mobile Premier League (MPL), a widely famous eSports platform where users can play a big list of games and activities such as crosswords, puzzles, cricket and many more, with the goal of winning real-world money. With more than 1 million downloads at the Play Store (Android’s main app store), the total valuation of MPL is projected to increase ten times.

Moving far beyond transportation, Go-Jek is sending shockwaves across the international investment sector, signaling that it wants to be the next super app in all Southeast Asia, just before neighbours in China take the whole region through the countless digital applications available

“Go-Jek is no longer just a transport company. This investment compliments its vision to be a holistic internet company,” one executive claimed.

Claiming to be the biggest real money mobile gaming platform in the world, MPL just raised nearly US$5 million in a Series A round revaluing the brand up to $148 million, a fundraise that was made possible thanks to the support of BeeNext Ventures, Times Internet and none other than Sequoia Capital, an American venture capital firm that controls many allocations specifically in China, Israel and India.

Experts in the field support Go-Jek’s intentions and see the move as an obvious step in their big outline.The numbers say that the online gaming industry is growing immensely; for instance, just in India this market is expected to be worth US$1 billion by the next decade, and with the increasing access of low-cost smartphones, more companies are extremely interested to dive into this global phenomenon.