Southeast Asia's biggest market is beckoning e-commerce firm JD.com in what may be a huge investment.
China's JD is reportedly currently negotiating with PT Tokopedia, an e-commerce company in Indonesia, for a potential investment deal.
If an agreement can be reached, it will help JD accelerate its expansion in Indonesia, one of the largest markets in Southeast Asia.
JD has implemented initial negotiation and the Chinese e-commerce giant may invest hundreds of millions of dollars into Tokopedia. The deal may value Tokopedia at over USD1 billion.
Once the investment is successful, JD will be able to compete with Alibaba in this marketplace. As China's two leading e-commerce providers, Alibaba and JD are both exploring the Southeast Asia market. In 2016, Alibaba acquired the controlling stake in the Southeast Asia e-commerce company Lazada. In addition, with this move, JD is expected to realize deployment in this region before Amazon.
Tokopedia was established in 2009 and its business model is similar as Alibaba, which focuses on connecting consumers and vendors, instead of selling owned products. In 2014, the company gained a USD100 million investment from SoftBank and Sequoia Capital, setting a record at that time.