Tokopedia lines up $1.5bn funding from Alibaba and Softbank

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
24th January 2020

Tokopedia, the Indonesian ecommerce marketplace, is understood to be in the final stages of closing a funding round worth as much as $1.5 billion from Japan’s SoftBank, China’s Alibaba and Singapore’s Temasek, Financial Times reports.

The marketplace, which is the largest of its kind in the region, would be set to become the second-biggest unicorn in Indonesia off the back of this funding, behind Gojek – the first Indonesian company to reach a $10 billion valuation.

Tokopedia is working towards an IPO

Temasek, a major investor in Gojek too, is expected to lead Tokopedia’s $1.5 billion round with a $500 million investment alonside existing investors SoftBank and Alibaba.

Potentially arriving “as soon as next quarter”, the $1.5 billion funding would value Tokopedia at between $8 billion and $9 billion according to “several people familiar with the matter”, taking it up from a valuation of $7 billion in 2018.

The talk of billion dollar funding comes just days after Tokopedia’s president Patrick Cao revealed to Nikkei Asian Review that it is looking to list in its home market and in the US within the next three years.

“If you want to go for the international investor profile, plus technology expertise and depth in terms of capital then [the] US” is the best market, says Cao. “Considering our peer group as well – Alibaba, Amazon – those guys are all listed [in] the US.”

A later statement from Tokopedia’s vice president of corporate communications Nuraini Razak confirmed that the bigtech had “already mapped out, planned, and prepared the appropriate arrangements needed” for its initial public offering (IPO). Razak did not confirm whether the US would be its next target for listings.

With the anticipated entry of Amazon into the Indonesian ecommerce market, it seems companies are beginning to feel the heat to gather capital and consolidate their presence in the region.