BANGKOK (Reuters) - Indonesian ride-hailing app Go-Jek will offer more financial services and expand its Thai food delivery business following an investment from Thailand's top lender, an executive said on Thursday.
Siam Commercial Bank Pcl said it made a "significant investment" in Go-Jek's Series F funding round.
The company raised around $1 billion earlier this year. It is valued at up to $10 billion, according to sources.
The tie-up with SCB will allow Go-Jek to add to its app the bank's products in payments, digital lending and insurance, to be rolled out in coming months, Go-Jek's head of international, Andrew Lee, told Reuters.
Go-Jek began operations in Thailand with motorcycle rides and food delivery earlier this year, under the brand Get, putting pressure on rival ride-hailing firm, Singapore-based Grab. Get says it has over 20,000 drivers on its app.
"Our products will be connected, SCB will oversee finance while Go-Jek and Get will look at digital and logistics," SCB President Arak Sutivong told reporters at a news conference.
Drivers, merchants and customers will have more access to the bank's products like lending for small business and insurance, boosting the lender's business.
"We have more then 20 services, in Indonesia...we will pick and choose the best playbook for Thailand and carefully curate that," Lee said adding they wanted to focus on food delivery.
Launched in 2011, Go-Jek has evolved from ride-sharing to allowing its customers to make online payments and order everything from food, to groceries to massage.
Grab, which also delivers food, in January secured a $200 million investment from mall and restaurant operator Central Group.
Go-Jek was also testing out deliver-only restaurants, or cloud kitchens, in Indonesia where these are becoming an important source of growth, Lee said.
SCB's rival, second-ranked Kasikornbank Pcl, invested $50 million in Grab last year.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Stephen Coates and Subhranshu Sahu)
