LinkAja was formerly known as T Cash, a scan-and-pay service runs by government-owned mobile operator Telkomsel 

LinkAja, the Indonesian government’s answer to Go-Jek’s e-wallet service Go-Pay, announced that it has collaborated with Go-Jek.

The partnership will see LinkAja payment option available on the digital payment extension of Go-Jek, as reported by Kumparan.

According to the companies, the feature will be available “soon” within this year.

“The collaboration is a follow-up of our commitment to being continuously present for Indonesian users of Go-Pay; all in one accord with LinkAja’s vision,” said Go-Jek President Andre Soelistyo.

Soelistyo further added that Go-Jek and Go-Pay will always be open to collaboration that is going to bring a positive impact to the public, especially the ones that will contribute greatly to Indonesian economic inclusivity.

A similar sentiment is also expressed by Go-Pay Managing Director Budi Gandasoebrata, who said that LinkAja, just like Go-Jek and Go-Pay, supports the acceleration of The National Cashless Movement (GNNT). It also aims to educate Indonesians about cashless payment.

Also Read: ClickClinic lets you check crowd and queue at clinics online, receive text notifications

“This collaboration can help accelerate the adoption of cashless payments, especially among the underserved market,” Gandasoebrata said.

LinkAja was officially launched on June 30, 2019 as the e-money product of Telkomsel and a total of seven state-owned enterprises.

LinkAja CEO Danu Wicaksana added that the ultimate goal of the service and collaboration is to increase financial inclusion by 75 per cent by the end of this year, as the government has targeted.

Just today, Go-Jek also revealed that it has received an undisclosed amount of investment from three entities of Mitsubishi into its ongoing Series F round.
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Go-Jek and LinkAja just announced a partnership, and we are excited to see where this is going

The Indonesian startup ecosystem has always been exciting to cover, but in 2018, things heated up when ride-hailing giant Go-Jek officially enabled the use of its e-wallet service for transactions with offline retailers.

As part of its move to compete with Lippo Group-backed OVO, which stood proudly on the side of its rival Grab, last year we began to see the e-wallet system being available for use in street food stalls and supermarkets.

To top it all off, earlier this year, TCASH –the e-wallet service runs by government-owned mobile operator Telkomsel– announced its rebrand into LinkAja as part of its strategy to compete with OVO and Go-Pay.

The greatest bit about this announcement? It involved the participation of at least five state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from the banking and telco sectors, signifying our entry to the next level of the war: It is no longer just a competition between two well-funded startups. SOEs want a piece of the cake, and they want it now!

But just when you thought you can finally sit down and watch the match with popcorn in your hand, today we woke up to another surprising announcement: That Go-Jek and LinkAja have set up a partnership that includes the addition of LinkAja as a payment option in Go-Jek’s main app.

Also Read: Go-Jek’s VC arm invests US$5M in India’s cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods

Oh boy.

Upon hearing this news, our Surabaya-based junior writer Prisca and I collectively nodded our heads in understanding.*

If you can’t beat ’em, sleep with ’em, we agreed.

Sleeping with the enemy has been the spirit of this competition ever since it was first noticed by the public. Battling Go-Pay and OVO would be an uphill battle for each of these SOEs; this is why it would be much better for them to forget their differences and team up. And today, we found out that they have reached out even further by pulling Go-Jek to their side.

This move made a lot of sense, especially since Nikkei Asia Review has written about industry players’ scepticism of the cartel’s ability to win against Go-Pay or OVO.

“I doubt they will be able to make decisions with the same speed as private companies. It will also be difficult for state-owned companies to burn cash [for promotions and discounts] on the same level,” one unnamed source reportedly said.

Also Read: Three Mitsubishi entities join Go-Jek’s Series F round

If anything, for the rest of us, this latest move reconfirmed just how powerful these tech companies are. In addition to their ability to reach out to customers, these tech companies are also run in the way that SOEs (and its subsidiaries) are not, enabling them to innovate at an unbelievable speed.

Despite running the national campaign to promote cashless payments, it seems like the Indonesian government is never the leading actor in its own feature film.

Sounds promising, and as a part of the startup ecosystem, we would definitely love to applaud that. But as the great philosopher Uncle Ben eloquently puts it: With great power comes great responsibility.

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*At least that is how I would like to imagine it. We are a remote team; we cannot really see what the others are doing in their respective cities.

Image Credit: Ali Tareq on Unsplash

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The Singaporean private equity firm also acquires a minority stake in TAG Sensors

Singapore-based private equity firm Elite Partners Capital (EPC) has invested S$3 million (US$2.2 million) in Norwegian cold chain management specialist TAG Sensors.

In addition to the funding, EPC’s Elite InNorvate Growth LP, a Singapore-based fund dedicated to investments in Norwegian growth companies, has signed the agreement for a significant minority stake in TAG Sensors.

TAG Sensors will set up its Asian headquarters in Singapore to recruit local talent, set up IT infrastructure, and IP protection.

With the deal, EPC will leverage on its network and resources to help TAG Sensors expand in Asia.

TAG Sensors provides solutions to track and log the temperature of perishable and sensitive products, both in storage and during transportation.

Its main product is Temperature Logging Label, which is a low-cost, printable temperature sensor that can be attached to a product or package, facilitating continuous tracking of an item’s temperature from production to consumption. It seeks to identify and ultimately reduce product waste in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

The investment is said to represent one of the first Singaporean fund’s investments in a Norwegian tech company. The country said that it is seeking to diversify from its traditional reliance on the oil and gas sector.

Also Read: Go-Jek’s VC arm invests US$5M in India’s cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods

TAG Sensors was established in 2012, and is a recipient of a EUR1.4 million (US$1.5 million) grant from Horizon 2020, the EU Research and Innovation programme.

It offers solutions that include Big Data analysis, digitalisation, blockchain, sensor technology, and RFID and NFC wireless technologies.

EPC Executive Chairman Micheal Tan said, “TAG Sensors has a suite of technologies which can transform the entire cold chain logistics industry. Our investment decision is anchored by the firm belief that this is a game-changer which has great potential for expansion in Asia and beyond.”

“We intend to tap on EPC’s network to expand across Asia and add value to the cold chain sector across the region. EPC is a welcome addition to our existing investors that include London- based Breed Reply and Platform Ventures USA,” said TAG Sensors CEO Knut Nygård.

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Image Credit: EPC

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The new entity aims to build a global acceleration hub for startups in Johor region of Malaysia, while at the same time becoming the gateway to global expansion for Mongolian startups

START Mongolia and StartupJohor, the ecosystem developers in their respective regions, have merged together to form a unified brand​.

Called START, the new entity aims to build a global acceleration hub for startups in Johor region of Malaysia, while at the same time becoming the gateway to global expansion for Mongolian startups.

The merger further expands the existing market reach for both parties. StartupJohor is based in Iskandar Malaysia, the southern economic development region of the Johor province of Malaysia. The city is strategically located beside Singapore and Indonesia that allows companies based within to have an easy access to the market opportunities in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and southeast asian countries.

This strategic location, along with a relatively cost-effective environment compared to Singapore with a ready-built world-class infrastructure in Medini, Iskandar Puteri, will be a gateway for Mongolian startups to expand their operations to overseas market.

Furthermore, Mongolian distinct geographical location, and East European and Asian cultural mixture will be a gateway for Malaysian startups into central Asia. So, Mongolia’s location in between Russia and China will be a gateway to markets beyond Mongolia, eastern region of Russia and Stan countries.

Also Read: For startups in Johor, new academy programme aims to guide the region’s budding entrepreneurs

In the future, START will showcase Mongolian and Malaysian startups to investors, synchronise their operations, best practices of ecosystem building and ​database platform comprises of the two ecosystem​. On the innovation front, START will open tech-driven hubs and expand into corporate innovation programs.

The idea of merger became inevitable to each party when the hubs were promoting their startups overseas. So, given the potential for further ecosystem development and market reach, the new START brand will bring mutual benefits to startups in Mongolia and Malaysia in the area of market reach, product testing, operational synergy, investor and partnership diversification.

StartupJohor, established in 2014 and has dedicated in building startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem in southern region of Malaysia, has multiple signature programmes under its umbrella and incubates its startup companies in its five co-working offices in the southern region of Malaysia, Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri.

Similarly, ​START Mongolia, since its establishment in 2011 as Startup Mongolia NGO and WorkCentral Mongolia, is an ecosystem developer with community building programmes in startup community and track record in the corporate world. START Mongolia incubates companies with a global aim in its three co-working offices in Ulaanbaatar, and it has launched first co-working and incubator in Darkhan, the center for the northern region of Mongolia.

“In general, the markets in central asian region have had a limited exposure to the global startup ecosystem. However in Mongolia, the home-grown startups, given the high internet and smartphone usage and culture to adopt new technology, are altering the landscape intensively in this region. Tech and startup arena in Mongolia already have gave birth to home-grown fintech, martech, insurtech and blockchain startups. On the local stock exchange, number of microfinancing fintechs and blockchain tech companies have successfully raised funding through IPO,” said Zolboo Bayarsaikhan, CEO of START Mongolia.

“Many great companies are coming up from Johor Bahru. These companies have been acquired, raised substantial funding and on the path to IPO in the local stock exchange, and we are seeing a clear trend and movement that many best startup may not necessary coming out from first-tier cities such as Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. There is a rising amount of great companies from tier-two cities or even countries as well,” said Feng Lim, CEO of StartupJohor (now START Malaysia).

“Following to this changing landscape, the traditional business are keen to digitise their business operations, but in most industries, the tech solutions, and the corporate culture and structure to deal with the outcome are not readily available. This is where START Mongolia has the team, expertise and community to help them. Now through this merger, START is setting up the channel for the rest of Asia to enter into rapidly changing startup ecosystem and market of Mongolia and Central Asia,” added Bayarsaikhan.

 

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In addition to updates from Australian startups, we also have three exciting news from Go-Jek

HR management platform Employment Hero raises US$15.3M in Series C funding – Press Release

Australian cloud-based human resource management platform Employment Hero today announced an AU$22 million (US$15.3 million) Series C funding round led by leading employment marketplace SEEK.

The funding round also included the participation of OneVentures and AirTree Ventures.

It has brought the company’s valuation to over AU$100 million (US$69 million).

In a press statement, Employment Hero said that it will “develop strategic integrations into SEEK’s expansive marketplace, working closely with the team to create a more holistic employment management experience for small businesses.”

It also plans to use the funding to support product development (particularly its WorkLife Passport service) and international expansion to New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the UK, and Ireland.

Investment tech platform Jacobi raises US$7.6M – Press Release

Australian investment tech platform Jacobi announced that it has raised an AU$11 million (US$7.6 million) funding round led by Illuminate Venture Partners, 8VC, and Credit Ease Venture Fund.

The company plans to use the funding to support product development and international expansion.

In a press statement, Jacobi said that it will focus on the European market after signing a number of large institutional investment managers.

The funding also coincides with the launch of its office in London, building on locations in Brisbane and San Francisco.

Also Read: Navigating the Southeast Asia Ecosystem: An Essential Guide for International Startups

Three Mitsubishi entities join Go-Jek’s Series F round – e27

Go-Jek has added another investment into its ongoing Series F round from multiple Mitsubishi entities: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance.

The three entities of Mitsubishi also plan to tap into Go-Jek’s expertise and presence in the mobility and consumer services market in the region.

In an official statement Go-Jek said the fresh fund will “enable Go-Jek to scale its strategy and benefit more people in the region, leveraging Southeast Asia’s growing mobile-first population and rapidly expanding digital economy.”

Go-Jek, LinkAja team up to add the digital payments service on the unicorn’s main app – Kumparan

LinkAja, the Indonesian government’s answer to Go-Jek’s e-wallet service Go-Pay, announced that it has collaborated with Go-Jek.

The partnership will make LinkAja payment option to be available on the Go-Jek platform, Kumparan reported.

According to the companies, the feature will be available “soon” within this year.

Also Read: Austrade names latest cohort of Landing Pad startups in Singapore

Go-Jek’s VC arm invests US$5M in India’s cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods – TechCircle

Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek has invested US$5 million in Indian cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods, which is better known for its Faasos brand, according to a TechCircle report.

Citing the company’s filings with the government, the report said that the investment was done through Go-Jek’s investment arm Go-Ventures.

It is part of the startup’s ongoing Series D funding round.

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Image Credit: Ondrej Machart on Unsplash

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