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SINGAPORE: Indonesian Go-Jek Group launched a test version of its free taxi taxi application in Singapore on Thursday, ahead of a full entry scheduled for early next year to take the market leader , Grab.
Go-Jek is in the midst of an expansion plan of 500 million dollars (2 billion rand) beyond its Indonesian base centered on Southeast Asia and has recently introduced services in Vietnam and Thailand.
It operates a fleet of motorcycle taxis, private cars and other services – from massage to cleaning, to shopping and food delivery – available via a smartphone, although the launch in Singapore only offers taxis for cars.
"Today, we are in Singapore, so we are very excited and very emotional," said Go-Jek President Andre Soelistyo to the press.
The Singaporean market has been dominated by the local tech company Grab since it bought out its US food rival Uber, the Southeast Asian rival, this year, putting an end to fierce competition.
In return, Uber received a 27.5% stake in Grab.
Singapore's anti-monopoly supervision has fined Grab and Uber for violating the competition rules during the merger.
Soelistyo said the arrival of Go-Jek would help ensure "healthy competition".
The beta version of the Go-Jek beta application was to be downloaded starting on Thursday for a limited number of customers and will only cover a designated part of the city.
Beta versions are used to test and get feedback from a limited number of users before full service begins.
Go-Jek has partnered with Singapore's largest bank, DBS, in the hope of taping into the lender's client base to gain market share and deliver benefits to its clients.
Go-Jek has secured financial backing from investors such as Google, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and the Chinese internet giant Tencent.
According to research conducted by Google and Temasek, the Southeast Asia business assistance services market is expected to reach 20 billion US dollars by 2025.
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