Tokopedia ready to become a provider of e-commerce infrastructure in Indonesia

Tokopedia's ambition to become a key provider of online and online business infrastructure, similar to the new Alibaba retail style, is now widely open after receiving a $ 1.1 billion injection of new funds.

It is not wrong, if this shift in the business Tokopedia, becomes the main theme in the newspaper "Bisnis Indonesia in the edition Thursday, December 13, 2018. This deserves to be the main report" Bisnis Indonesia ", because the evolution shows that Unicorn's Indonesian position is currently becoming the highest value company Today, with the control still in the hands of the founder.

Last Wednesday December 12, 2018, Tokopedia announced the acquisition of funds worth $ 1.1 billion, equivalent to about 16 trillion rupees from a group of investors led by SoftBank Vision Fund and Alibaba Group.

Funding is said to boost Tocopedia's assessment to $ 7 billion. This means that the Tokopedia value is more than Rp102 trillion. So, this goes beyond Gojek's $ 5 billion valuation.

However, the position as a top startup startup value will change again if the latest Gojek can be obtained.

Gujik, founded by Nadim Makarem, aims to fund about $ 2 billion to fund regional expansion. If the Fund's objective is met, the Gojek valuation will cross $ 10 billion and achieve the first exclusion status from Indonesia.

The founder and chairman of Tokopedia, William Tanuwijaya, has disclosed that most of the funds obtained will be used to achieve business transformation in Tokopedia.

So far, Tokopedia plays a role as Doraemon Magic Bag by providing a variety of consumer needs via online channels.

With this funding, Tokopedia will focus in the future on expanding the business by working as an infrastructure provider (IaaS) for its partners. This was accompanied by different strategic steps for the company to embrace more offline businesses in Tokopedia's digital ecosystem.

The services of the digital commerce infrastructure include logistics services, fulfillment (receipt, packaging, freight forwarding), payments and financial services.

"Tokopedia will more embrace offline work.This has become our focus on being able to help more businesses that are working offline, so that they become more efficient, so that they can get the same benefits as a magical online business bag, William said.

The new Tokopedia development is similar to the one developed by Alibaba in China. The company founded by Jack Ma also carries the concept of new retailing by combining ecosystems both online and offline.

At the same time, Tokopedia's non-Internet activities are not limited to traditional retailers, such as kiosks and grocery stores, but also key players in the industry, such as farmers and fishers.

Vendors in digital and offline areas can use Tokopedia's infrastructure, including storage systems, which will be built in different areas according to demand requirements. This is believed to shorten the distribution chain, both for producers and sellers.

The infrastructure provided by Tokopedia provides vendors in the offline channel the ability to open new branches without having to rent a warehouse.

On the other hand, online channel sales partners can take advantage of these facilities to get merchandise stocks faster.

"Farmers and fishers can also market their products directly to many restaurants and hotels, and the margin they get may be much better, which is what we call infrastructure as a service."

In achieving this concept, Tokopedia will improve the Tokopedia center in different regions to improve digital literacy for non-Internet business partners. The facility also serves as the company's representative in the region to assist business partners with Tokopedia solution users.

William said he did not rule out the possibility of starting to take strategic steps by getting several other technology companies to try to develop the ecosystem.

Tokopedia's target company operates in a sector linked to the company's goals, such as empowering farmers and fishers.

Lydia Gate, a principal investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers and a board member of Tokopedia, said that since its inception, Tokopedia has committed itself to helping micro and small businesses digitally trade their products to consumers.

"This company is in the right place to serve millions of other people, given the rapid adoption rate of the Internet in this region." We believe Tokopedia's potential is growing sustainably, he said.

Meanwhile, Keny Ho, head of investment in South East Asia and India, revealed that his party has a task in line with Tokopedia, which is committed to facilitating the start of business people anywhere.