What if Grab merged with GoJek?

One of the things discussed much in the startup community is the fierce battle between Grab and Gojek. Most want the two companies to fight until the end of life – the moment one company will become really big and the other one will be empty. Others have different ideas, they want the two companies merged together. According to Techinasia, this could be considered a good choice.

From a business perspective, the merger makes a lot of sense. Combining the two businesses will increase efficiency and help save costs and maximize features such as products, techniques and customer service.

The merged company may invest more resources towards service users instead of focusing on competition and offsetting. The merger will be a stepping stone, allowing founders and management teams of the two companies to set aside differences and create a company of greater value and influence.

The merger between Didi and Kuaidi in 2015 is a case in point. When it happens, the latter company is valued at $ 6 billion. Since then, Didi’s value has increased about 10 times to $ 56 billion.

Of course, merging Grab and Gojek is not easy. Didi and Kuaidi share a rival in China, Uber – an important catalyst for the merger. But judging from the current situation, both Grab and Gojek, neither side seems to really want to merge due to concerns about cultural differences. Most people also think that every company will do better when alone: ​​Competition creates innovation, makes both businesses stronger and makes customers happy.

However, the biggest obstacle to a merger does not come from internal problems. Instead, the biggest obstacle is the competition law. Of course, the government will not allow such an agreement to occur, especially after Grab acquired Southeast Asia’s Uber in 2018.

There is still some hope. Co-founder and former CEO of Gojek, Nadiem Makarim, has now become the Indonesian Minister of Education, and maybe he will make an impact to change the anti-competitive law?

At present, Gojek’s overseas activities have only achieved a small success compared to their home country. Many analysts say it would be better for the company to focus its resources on Indonesia. And if that happens, the possibility of merging becomes a bit more realistic.

Grab seems to be in a better position to control this situation, but in an unprecedentedly changing technology world, no one knows whether the future will forever be like this.