With the investment in Tokopedia, JD will compete directly with Alibaba, which had purchased controlling stake in Lazada last year

Chinese e-commerce giant JD is reportedly in talks to invest in Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Citing various anonymous sources, the report stated that the investment is currently in early-stage negotiations.
JD plans to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” to the online marketplace, which is said to propel the startup’s valuation past US$1 billion.

Tokopedia itself has raised US$100 million from SoftBank Group and Sequoia Capital in 2014, a record-breaking sum that was considered as “Indonesia’s coming-of-age as a bona fide destination for technology investment.”

Also Read: Choose which battles to lose so you can win the war – Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya

Later in April 2016, it was reported to raise US$147 million from undisclosed set of investors, but CEO William Tanuwijaya neither confirmed nor denied the report.

For JD, the investment will strengthen itself to compete directly with rival Alibaba, which had purchased controlling stake in Lazada in 2016.

Despite operating its own online marketplace and logistics company in Indonesia, JD is facing challenges in the form of Amazon’s expected entry to the Southeast Asian market and Lazada’s recent partnership with Uber and Netflix in Singapore.

While JD spokesperson had declined to comment on the story, e27 is currently reaching out to Tokopedia to confirm the report.

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#Asia JD reportedly in talks to invest in Tokopedia, may propel its valuation past US$1B

With the investment in Tokopedia, JD will compete directly with Alibaba, which had purchased controlling stake in Lazada last year