Indonesia’s Go-Jek could launch ride-hailing service in Singapore this month as it looks to challenge Grab
An expansion to Singapore would make the city state Go-Jek’s second international market
Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek could launch its services in Singapore as soon as this month, as the company picks up speed in its regional expansion initiative to challenge Singapore-based rival Grab.
An expansion to Singapore would make the city state Go-Jek’s second international market, after it introduced services in Vietnam with local partner Go-Viet in September. The news was first reported by technology news site TechCrunch, without citing a source.
Go-Jek has also reportedly been in talks with Comfort-Delgro, Singapore’s largest taxi operator that previously struck an exclusivity deal with Uber Technologies.
Singapore, a small but significant market in Southeast Asia for ride-hailing companies, is particularly valuable thanks to its higher fares for taxis and private-car rides compared to other markets.
Go-Jek did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Before its regional launches, Go-Jek competed solely in its domestic market of Indonesia, where it operates a super-app platform that lets users hail rides and even order food, over-the-counter medication and massage services on-demand.
The company earlier this year announced that it would be expanding regionally to four markets – Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines – as it looks to challenge rival Grab’s dominance in the region. Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing market is estimated to be worth US$20.1 billion by 2025, according to a report by Temasek Holdings and Google.
Apart from its launch in Vietnam and potentially Singapore, Go-Jek has also said it will launch its Thailand service under the name Get, by working with a local partner. The Go-Viet and Get apps will not be interoperable with Go-jek’s main app, which means that users will have to download a different app in each market. In contrast, users can use the same Grab app to hail a ride in any of the markets it operates in.
Go-Jek’s regional expansion is seen by some as a welcome alternative to challenge Grab’s dominance in Southeast Asia. Following Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations, some consumers have complained about a lack of rivals and increased fares on Grab’s rides.
Last month, Singapore’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore, deemed the Grab-Uber deal anticompetitive and slapped both companies with a combined S$13 million (US$9.5 million) fine, instructing Grab to do away with any exclusivity arrangements it has with partners, as well as to maintain pre-merger pricing algorithms and commission rates for drivers.