After eight months of rumors, ride-hailing giant Gojek just revealed it has acquired Moka, an Indonesian startup that makes internet-connected payment systems for stores and restaurants.
Gojek, Indonesia’s top-valued startup at $10 billion, confirmed the deal in a filing with Indonesia’s Business Competition Supervisory Commission, reported local media.
The acquisition proves the competition between Grab and Gojek over its mobile wallet services—GrabPay and GoPay—is not just heating up, but also shifting to offline shopping. It could help boost small business uptake of the local services available within the Gojek app, such as food and groceries deliveries (GoFood, GoMart) and medicine delivery (GoMed).
Technode Global has contacted Gojek for further details of the acquisition.
Claiming to have more than 12,500 merchants across Indonesia, comprising a wide variety of shops and restaurants, Moka’s system helps them take cashless payments from customers across an array of popular apps in Indonesia, such as Gojek’s own Gopay, Grab-backed Ovo, Dana, and LinkAja. In addition, the software helps subscribers handle store inventory and accounting.
Moka’s hardware looks like this, with a compartment beneath the iPad for cash:
Moka facts:
- Started in 2014
- Raised $28 million from VCs
- Investors include Sequoia India, Softbank Ventures Korea, and EV Growth
Digital payments in Indonesia:
- Growth spurred by online shopping as well as cashless payments at stores and restaurants
- Digital transactions up 173% in past year
- 41 companies have epayments licenses
- Despite heavyweight Grab and Gojek involvement, the mobile wallet market is still fragmented