Indonesia’s GoTo surges 23 percent in $1.1bn IPO | Economy

The debut comes as record venture funding is creating a wave of startups in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Shares of GoTo soared as much as 23 percent in their market debut on Monday after Indonesia’s largest tech company raised $1.1bn in a widely anticipated IPO, setting the mood for other tech offerings.

GoTo shares climbed to as much as 416 rupiah ($0.029) versus their offer price of 338 rupiah ($0.024) per share, which was the high end of an indicative range for one of the world’s largest offerings so far this year. The shares later pared gains to trade at 384 rupiah ($0.027).

The strong debut provides a boost to some of the tech giants which have backed GoTo and have seen their other investments battered by the global market rout since late last year, including longtime major investors SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund 1 and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

“GoTo’s IPO is a watershed moment for Indonesia,” said Joel Shen, head of Asia technology at global law firm Withers. “With millions of users, drivers, and merchants, there’s no company that’s more plugged in to Indonesia’s digital economy,” he said.

PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk’s stock market debut is the culmination of last year’s merger between ride-hailing-to-payments company Gojek and e-commerce giant Tokopedia.

“I hope that GoTo IPO will motivate our young generations to give new energy for Indonesia’s economic progress,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a video message.

The listing ceremony at the Jakarta bourse kicked off with a video of all of GoTo’s senior leadership in Gojek driver uniforms riding in-house Electrum brand electric motorcycles.

GoTo’s IPO comes as record venture funding is creating a wave of startups in the $70bn digital market of Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

The company sold only 4 percent of its shares in the IPO, and, unlike most other previous flotations, it was offered only to investors in Indonesia.