Alibaba invests in Indonesian ecommerce company Tokopedia in Southeast Asia push
Alibaba has invested in Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform, Tokopedia, as the ecommerce giant continues to expand its presence in Southeast Asia.
Alibaba invests in Tokopedia to boost hold on South East Asia
The Chinese ecommerce company has led a $1.1 billion investment in Tokopedia, which is often referred to as Indonesia’s Taobao and is one of the most visited websites in Indonesia.
The investment gives Alibaba a minor stake in Tokopedia, and is the latest move in the company’s international expansion.
Alibaba already holds a majority stake (83%) of Singapore-based ecommerce company Lazada, giving the company access to key markets in Southeast Asia.
Alibaba has also launched Tmall World to target Chinese-speaking consumers in key markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
Alibaba affiliate company Ant Financial has also made a series of investments throughout South East Asia, launching AliPay in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and thePhillipines through a merger with Lazada’s HelloPay. It has also invested in South Korea’s Kakao Pay and Thailand’s Ascend Money.
The investment follows recent media reports of investment talks between Tokopedia and JD.com, Alibaba's ecommerce rival in China.
Alibaba last week posted another strong quarterly result, reporting a 56% increase in revenues of RMB 50.2bn ($7.4bn) and income of RMB 14.03bn ($2bn).