Microsoft steps up Indonesia tech battle with Bukalapak deal

US software giant invests in "unicorn" e-commerce platform

20201103 bukalapak

Bukalapak has been a winner from the COVID-19 pandemic as e-commerce booms in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. (Nikkei montage/ Keiichiro Asahara)

SHOTARO TANI, Nikkei staff writer

JAKARTA -- U.S. tech giant Microsoft is to invest in Indonesia's e-commerce platform Bukalapak, in the latest example of global tech firms' interest in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Microsoft's announcement of the deal on Tuesday did not specify the value of its "strategic investment" in the Indonesian unicorn -- private companies valued at over $1 billion. However Bloomberg said in an earlier report that Bukalapak would receive $100 million from a group that also includes existing investors GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi or Emtek Group, a local media conglomerate.

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