Indonesia is an archipelago of diversity, and the country is never shy from embracing technology for the greater goods.
GO-JEK is the ride-hailing and online payment company, considered as one of Indonesia's fastest growing startup. As the first billion-dollar startup in the country seeks to expand its services to Southeast Asia, it partners with three peer-to-peer (P2P) lending firms.
They are Findaya, Dana Cita and Aktivaku.
The company that has Alphabet's, Inc. and China's Tencent Holdings as backers, has grown massively since it was first founded by Nadiem Makarim in 2010, in a country with a population of more than 250 million people.
To expand beyond its territory, it needs all the help it can get.
"We believe that a strong collaboration between financial services providers and technology companies can reach a wider range of people who have difficulty accessing financial services, such as unbanked communities," said a spokeperson at GO-JEK.
The collaboration can give an increase financial inclusion in Indonesia.
This is considering that GO-JEK has between 20 million to 25 million monthly users, who process more than 100 million transactions, as well as the emergence of P2P lending platforms has so far been welcomed in Indonesia.
Financial regulators in the country see these lenders' offering as a much needed service to cash-strapped businesses and consumers at a time when Indonesia’s economy has been restrained by sluggish bank lending.
But here, GO-JEK isn't merging the payment system its already operating, called Go-Pay, with the lenders' partnership. Go-Pay has become one of the most popular mobile payment platforms in Indonesia, and GO-JEK has made three acquisitions of smaller fintech firms to advance this mobile payment strategy.
According to the company, the lenders' collaboration would be a separate payment vertical.
GO-JEK in collaborating with lenders should also help it in achieving profitability in all of its segments.
Launched in 2010 in Jakarta, GO-JEK pioneers motorbike ride-hailing taxi in Indonesia. Since then, the company has evolved from that service to become a one-stop app allowing users in Southeast Asia’s largest economy to make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to massages.
GO-JEK's main competitor in Indonesia, is the Singapore-based Grab, the bigger player in the region which provides similar services.
To compete with the giant abroad, GO-JEK would invest $500 million to enter Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. This came after Uber struck a deal to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab.
With lenders, strong funding and giant backers, GO-JEK targets an aggressive expansion, Makarim said.
The news comes at a time when Grab is also stepping up its efforts and funding to expand in Indonesia, and transform itself into a consumer technology company, starting with a partnership with online grocer HappyFresh.
"Mimicking GO-JEK’s strategy is the highest form of flattery," said Makarim.