GOJEK partners with Coins.ph to accelerate financial inclusion in the Philippines

GOJEK, Indonesia’s largest on-demand multi-service platform, is proud to announce a partnership between GO-PAY, its payments platform and the leading digital payments service in Indonesia, and Philippine startup Coins.ph, one of the fastest growing fintech companies in Southeast Asia. As part of this collaboration, GOJEK is making a substantial acquisition of shares to support Coins.ph in its rapid growth to meet the financial needs of all Filipinos. 

Through its market-leading mobile wallet, Coins.ph helps its customers to easily access a variety of financial services - including mobile airtime, remittances, and bill payments - on their mobile phone. Coins.ph has grown its customer base to over 5M in under 5 years, processing over 6M transactions per month (as of December 2018). It is supported by a small, young, and mostly local team, and in the process has attracted significant partners, as well as domestic and international investment. 

In Indonesia, GO-PAY’s mission is to help millions of Indonesians have access to financial services. As the market leader in digital payments, it has successfully shifted cash to cashless transaction habits both within and outside the GOJEK ecosystem. As of now, more than 50 percent of transactions within the GOJEK ecosystem are done cashless through GO-PAY. By partnering with financial institutions, it also facilitates access for the unbanked to financial products and services.

“We are very proud to showcase the success of Philippine startups. In just a few years, our team has been able to build a scalable service extending financial services to millions of Filipinos,” said Ron Hose, Coins.ph founder and CEO. “We’ve been able to accomplish this by working hard and focusing heavily on our customers’ needs.” 

“Coins.ph and GOJEK share the same vision that has made each a success in their markets - empowering their customers by giving them lower-cost and more convenient access to services. Together we have a tremendous opportunity and by leveraging GOJEK’s resources and expertise, we can give Filipinos even more convenience, choice, and access to the services they want.”

According to a WeAreSocial 2018 report, Southeast Asia has one of the highest rates of mobile connectivity in the world, with Indonesia and Philippines boasting higher mobile user penetration and mobile connectivity than the worldwide average. And yet, according to data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, in 2017, 77% of the Filipino population were unbanked, 60% of adult Filipinos still conducted payments through cash, and over 80% used over the counter services to send and receive money. Digitizing these payment and remittance services is a crucial step towards digital financial inclusion. 

There is huge potential for GOPAY to bring greater access to crucial financial services in the Philippines by combining its technological expertise, scalability and experience in Indonesia with Coins.ph’s deep local knowledge and strong customer loyalty. Together, the two companies will work to enhance use cases and expand access to cashless payments and banking services, deepening financial inclusion in the Philippines. This is also aligned with the Philippines government’s aspiration to increase digital transactions from 1% in 2018 to 20% by 2020. 

Aldi Haryopratomo, CEO of GO-PAY, said: "We are excited to work with Coins.ph, a company that shares our ethos of empowering communities by bringing more people into the digital economy. Consumer transaction behaviour in Indonesia and Philippine share many similarities, and together with Coins.ph, we hope to have similar success in accelerating cashless payments in the Philippines.

Ever since GO-PAY launched in 2016, e-money transactions, as well as the number of users, have been taking off dramatically in Indonesia. According to the Central Bank of Indonesia, in two years span there has been almost 300% growth in e-money users nationwide, with e-money users surpassing both debit card and credit card users in 2018.

“We look forward to working closely with the Coins.ph team on a shared mission to make financial services available to all Filipinos and to increase access to digital payments to accelerate a cashless society," said Aldi. 

GOJEK Founder and CEO, Nadiem Makarim, said: “With the second largest population and a strong domestic economy, the Philippines is one of the most exciting markets in SE Asia and through this partnership with Coins.ph, we are humbled to take part in the country’s digital payments transformation,  through technology and empowerment of fintech small-medium businesses. Supporting the success of a local fintech entrepreneurial champion like Coins.ph, with a similar ambition to empower society through innovation and technology, has always been part of our passion for growth. Today’s announcement marks the start of our long-term commitment to the Philippines and a continuation of our mission to use technology to improve everyday lives and create a positive social impact.”

Coins.ph founder/CEO, Ron Hose, and the extended team will continue in their existing roles, with no impact to customers.