Alibaba to invest $1bn in Indonesia e-commerce platform

Alibaba Group has led a $1.1 billion investment round for financing into Indonesia’ Tokopedia to become a minority shareholder.

A number of undisclosed existing Tokopedia investors also participated in the round, the Chinese e-commerce giant said.

“We have always thought of Alibaba as our teacher and role model. Today, we are excited to welcome them as a shareholder and we believe that our partnership will further accelerate Tokopedia’s mission, to democratise commerce through technology,” said Tokopedia CEO and co-founder William Tanuwijaya, in a statement.

“The partnership with Alibaba will enhance the scale and quality of Tokopedia’s offerings to its customers and make it easier for merchants and partners to do business across the archipelago and beyond.”

Alibaba first showed interest in Tokopedia in July where it was in reported talks to lead a funding round in the Indonesian unicorn.

“Alibaba and Tokopedia have a shared mission of helping small and medium enterprises in achieving success in its business,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.

“We are very delighted to partner with Tokopedia in serving Indonesian customers.”
The start-up first announced an investment round in 2014, where it received $100 million from SoftBank and Sequoia.

In 2016, Tokopedia raised $147 million in an undisclosed round from several venture capital firms including Amasia, which brought the total amount raised to $247 million. The funding round valued the company at one billion dollars.