Indonesian unicorn Gojek has secured $300 million in additional funding from Telkomsel, a brand name of GSM and IMTS Mobile phone network owned by Telkom. The digital telco company’s investment follows an existing collaboration between the two companies. The increased investment will help Gojek ramp up its digital services and generate new and innovative solutions.

Gojek’s total funding now sits at $5.3 billion. The two companies have been working together as early as 2018 when they partnered to subsidize mobile data costs incurred by Gojek’s driver-partners. In November 2020, Telkomsel invested $150 million into the company to explore a “broad range of collaboration opportunities.”

Setyranto Hantoro, Chief Executive Officer of Telkomsel, said that the firm’s strategic partnership with the Indonesian unicorn was made in order to strengthen the firm’s three digital business pillars: digital connectivity, digital platform, and digital services.

“As a digital telco, we aim to go beyond our connectivity capabilities by consistently developing new, sustainable innovations. Through this enhanced collaboration between Telkomsel and Gojek, we will be able to bring together our expertise and further develop Indonesia’s digital industry. Telkomsel is optimistic that this latest investment will open more opportunities for society to access advanced digital technology-based innovations developed by homegrown companies,” Hantoro said in a statement.

The company secured the investment amidst its preparations to pursue a historic $18 billion merger with local e-commerce unicorn Tokopedia. This deal would be the largest merger between startups in Southeast Asia. A merger such as this will produce a tech titan that will cover everything from ride-hailing, food delivery, digital payments, and e-commerce. The companies are entering the final phases of securing the merger. According to Nikkei Asia, the companies have been telling their employees of the intention to merge and a deal is expected to occur by the end of June, according to a source privy to the matter.

Using its fresh capital, Gojek plans to scale its existing services and generate new and innovative products and solutions. The company wants to look at finding more opportunities to integrate its digital services while delivering more value to its consumers, partners, and businesses. Telkomsel and Gojek will also continue working together so that they can help businesses leverage digital solutions and continue fostering Indonesia’s technology talent pool.

“The additional investment will strengthen the collaboration between the two companies, enabling both of us to leverage our technological resources and expertise to bring the benefits of the digital economy to consumers, driver-partners, and small businesses across Indonesia,” commented Andre Soelistyo, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Gojek Group.