The Emtek Group has invested US $375 million in Southeast Asia’s super app, Grab, as part of strategic collaboration, Indonesia’s biggest TMT (technology, telecom, and media) conglomerate.
Grab’s investment in Grab has also been finished. In April Grab purchased a 4% share in Emtek, The Straits Times said.
A source of information indicated that, during recent sales of private placement shares by Emtek, the transaction was valued at more than IDR 4 trillion (USD 274 million).
The purchase was apparently negotiated through a firm titled H Holdings Inc., which served as an Emtek shareholder for the Korean web search behemoth, Naver Corporation.
The collaboration aims to use the magnitude and forces of the different ecosystems of the two firms to achieve two goals. It aims
(1) To expedite scanning and generate more revenue prospects for millions of small and everyday companies in Indonesia; and
(2) To provide greater digital accessibility even for the least digitized sectors for everyday Indonesians.
Emtek and Grab will look at possible partnerships in logistics and e-commerce, as well as financial services, telemedicine, advertising and digital media, and digital products for conventional kiosks and warungs.
The alliance’s immediate aim is to improve digitalization in Indonesia’s outlying cities. MSMEs account for 99 percent of all companies in Indonesia, yet only 21% have a digital presence. Festival Kota Mapan (Kolaborasi Nyata Untuk Masa Depan), a large accelerator programme aimed at MSMEs in Tier II cities, will be hosted by Grab and Emtek.
The inaugural festival, which will take place in Solo in September 2021, will focus on 1,000 SMEs. Bukalapak, GrabFood, GrabKios, and GrabMart will provide an integrated assistance programme targeted at enhancing their capacities through curated and rigorous training and bespoke technology solutions.
Emtek Group and Grab have already collaborated on Festival Kota Mapan. Grab already has a collaboration with Bukalapak to provide services like GrabExpress same-day and rapid deliveries, as well as GrabKios digital items like mobile top-ups on the Mitra Bukalapak platform for kiosk operators in 500 cities.
Through KMK Online and Grab Ventures Velocity, Grab and Emtek will also look for joint possibilities to invest in and coach Indonesian companies.
Emtek began as a personal computer services provider in 1983 and has since grown into a contemporary, integrated group of companies with three major business divisions: media, telecommunications, and IT solutions, and connectivity. Emtek’s diverse portfolio includes media businesses such as SCTV and Indosiar, two of the country’s leading national free-to-air TV networks, over-the-top platform Vidio, and other digital businesses such as all-commerce marketplace Bukalapak, online publisher KLY, solutions businesses, and healthcare, which includes the ownership of six hospitals.
