China's JD.com invests in Indonesia's Go-Jek amid Southeast Asia push - Sources

Go-Jek, whose investors include global private equity firms KKR & Co LP and Warburg Pincus LLC as well as venture capitalist Sequoia Capital, has raised about US$100 million from JD.com, one of the people said.

The startup is raising up to US$1 billion from existing and new investors in its latest funding round and has a pre-money valuation of about US$2.5 billion, the person said.

The people declined to be identified as the financing plans are not public.

JD.com and Go-Jek declined to comment. Indonesia currently accounts for almost all of JD.com's investments outside China, which include an e-commerce platform and travel startup Traveloka.

JD.com's investment in Go-Jek follows that of Chinese social media and online entertainment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is also an investor in JD.com. Reuters reported last month that Tencent had invested US$100 million to US$150 million in Go-Jek.

The people said Tencent is also in talks with Go-Jek for further investment as a strategic investor.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Investment in Southeast Asia by some of China's largest tech firms point to ambitions to boost their presence in a region that many expect to produce the next batch of high-valued tech startups.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Didi Chuxing, China's largest ride-hailing firm, have also been investing in Southeast Asia, home to more than 600 million people and some of the world's fastest-growing economies.

Didi, along with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, last month led a US$2.5 billion financing round of Singapore-based Grab, one of Go-Jek's biggest rivals in Southeast Asia.

Go-Jek, which began as a ride-hailing app for motorcycle taxis, mainly operates in Indonesia, the region's most populous country, which has grown to be a large potential market for Grab and Uber Technologies Inc.

Amid fierce competition in ride-hailing, Go-Jek is also developing food delivery business that a separate person said yields a much higher margin than car-hailing. Its mobile payment business, Go-Pay, is growing rapidly as it is complementary with other Go-Jek offerings, the person said.

People close to the matter previously told Reuters that Go-Jek aims to close the current funding round in the third quarter.