Facebook has gained a foothold in south-east Asia’s largest economy with an investment in Gojek, Indonesia’s biggest unicorn. The US social media group did not disclose the size of its investment, which is focused on GoPay, the Indonesian start-up’s payments arm, but people with knowledge of the matter said it was in the low hundred million dollars and takes Gojek’s current fundraising round to more than $3 billion. Indonesia is one of the world’s largest social media markets, and one of four that Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg targeted to launch WhatsApp Pay… The deal is a validation of Gojek and the network it has built across Indonesia. The start- up — which is valued at more than $10 billion and already counts some of the world’s biggest tech companies including Google, Tencent and? JD.com? among its prominent backers — started out as a ride-hailing company but has expanded into food delivery, payments and other consumer services… While Gojek has branched out to other south-east Asian countries including Vietnam and Thailand, Indonesia remains its biggest market. Its ride-hailing service operates in more than 200 cities across the country while its GoPay service spreads even further across 370 cities, processing billions of transactions each year.?

Mercedes Ruehl and Hannah Murphy?