Gojek reportedly acquires minority stake in Blue Bird for US$30m

Indonesian ride-hailing company Gojek has acquired a minority stake in Indonesian taxi operator Blue Bird for US$30 million, according to Bloomberg. Gojek is now expected have a 4.3% stake in Blue Bird, which comes months after the former expressed interest in the latter. The filing was also seen by Marketing Interactive.

Meanwhile, both parties have an ongoing partnership since 2016. Gojek first tied up with Blue Bird in May 2016, to further "solidify their market leadership". The companies then launched a Go-BlueBird feature on the Gojek app in March 2017, allowing customers to book Blue Bird taxis. Marketing Interactive has reached out to Gojek and Blue Bird for comment.

Several media reports said that prior to the partnership, taxi drivers in Indonesia went on a strike and protested against the influx of ride-hailing companies. According to e27, the ride-hailing industry was seen as a "threat" to traditional transportation industry such as taxis.

However, since then, Gojek has grown exponentially over the years to process over two billion transactions a year. The Indonesia-based company has also launched operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. In Indonesia, the Gojek app was claimed to be the most-used on-demand application, where its food and payments businesses have overtaken transport to become the largest businesses within the group, said the company.

The ride-hailing company also recently rode into the insurance space, by launching an online insurance offering called GoSure. This was done in partnership with Indonesian insurtech company PasarPolis. GoSure aims to provide smartphone users in Indonesia with access to insurance products provided by PasarPolis, to cover a variety of needs related to travel, motor vehicles and mobile device protection.

The launch of its insurance product came shortly after Gojek was allegedly shutting down several of its GoLife services. According to The Jakarta Post, most of Gojek’s GoLife services faced “stagnant business performance” and was first launched four years ago. GoLife services in Indonesia include GoMassage, GoClean, GoAuto, GoGlam, GoDaily, GoLaundry and GoFix. According to GoLife’s head Wesly Simatupang, GoLaundry and GoDaily will be shut down by 31 December, while GoFix, GoGlam and Service Marketplace ops will be discontinued by mid-January. The ride-hailing company aims to open up opportunities for impacted partners to join its other services such as GoRide, GoSend, GoPay and others.

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