Seize and GoTo’s potential merger marks the loss of life of Southeast Asia’s super-app dream

Talks of a possible merger between Southeast Asia’s two largest tech super-apps, Seize and GoTo, have as soon as once more captured the area’s consideration.

The 2 corporations—long-time rivals in ride-hailing, meals supply, and digital funds—have held on-and-off talks since early 2024, however this time, momentum seems to be constructing with the Indonesian authorities’s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, stepping in to facilitate talks aimed toward making a regional tech big.

If the merger goes forward, Danantara might obtain a minority stake within the mixed entity, together with particular rights over its Indonesian operations.

However behind the headlines lies a much bigger query: has Southeast Asia’s super-app dream peaked?

Each Seize and GoTo spent years racing to dominate each nook of shoppers’ digital lives, fueled by billions in enterprise capital and a growth-at-all-costs technique.

However investor endurance has worn skinny after years of heavy money burn and unprofitable operations. Fairly than a transfer to broaden, the potential merger seems to be like a truce between rivals—a technique to cease competing, not begin rising.

A near-monopoly in Southeast Asia

Each Seize and GoTo have spent the previous decade battling for a similar prospects in overlapping markets.

A merger would enable them to cease competing head-to-head and obtain near-monopoly positions in ride-hailing, controlling nearly 90% of Singapore’s market and greater than 91% in Indonesia, in line with Euromonitor Worldwide.

Analysts say the deal would convey speedy scale benefits. The mixed group might consolidate driver and service provider networks, lower duplicate advertising and marketing and expertise prices, rationalise incentives, and extract working leverage throughout their companies.

These efficiencies would prolong past ride-hailing throughout their different verticals, doubtlessly placing strain on rivals like Shopee, Lazada, and digital banking platforms.

And this issues as a result of each corporations have been below strain to reveal sustainable profitability, notably after going public. Seize and GoTo had a mixed market worth of US$72 billion at their 2021 and 2022 listings.

Since then, shares have tumbled—Seize down greater than 50% and GoTo over 80%, largely resulting from fierce regional competitors. Most not too long ago, GoTo shareholders, together with SoftBank, even reportedly pushed for the elimination of its CEO amid declining share costs.

Each corporations have additionally confronted years of losses. Though Seize not too long ago posted its fourth consecutive worthwhile quarter in Q3 2025, that revenue was pushed not by speedy progress or new prospects, however at tighter value administration and extra disciplined incentive spending.

GoTo additionally endured multi-year losses earlier than turning worthwhile on an adjusted foundation in 2024, following job cuts and stringent cost-cutting measures, together with the downsizing and majority sale of its loss-making e-commerce unit, Tokopedia, to ByteDance’s TikTok to the tune of roughly US$1.5 billion.

However whether or not they can proceed this momentum will rely upon how these two corporations navigate shifting progress fashions and handle intense market competitors, particularly as shoppers within the area are spending extra cautiously amid excessive inflation and rising rates of interest—a merger might supply a technique to stabilise operations and scale back aggressive pressures.

The trail to a merger isn’t so easy

However the path forward isn’t simple.

Whereas the merger might ship vital operational efficiencies and scale benefits for each corporations, it raises issues for shoppers and the broader market. 

A tutorial from Universitas Airlangga in Indonesia cautioned that the mixed entity might exploit its dominance to set costs at shoppers’ expense.

“The Seize–GoTo merger opens the door to predatory pricing,” he stated. “They could begin by slashing costs, capitalising on improved effectivity. This may get rid of rivals, and as soon as they dominate the market, they may freely set costs at shoppers’ expense.”

Furthermore, the size of the merged entity could be unprecedented throughout a number of industries, far past Seize’s earlier deal with Singapore and native consolidation.

Proof from previous offers highlights the dangers. As an example, the Competitors and Shopper Fee of Singapore (CCCS), Singapore’s competitors watchdog, discovered that Seize raised costs by 10–15%, altered its rewards scheme, and decreased incentives for drivers following its merger with Uber in 2018.

The watchdog decided the deal anti-competitive, and issued a mixed superb of S$13 million to each events. Seize was additionally required to take away exclusivity obligations on its drivers and taxi fleets.

Equally, Seize’s proposed acquisitions of taxi firm Trans-Cab and supply platform foodpanda have been both blocked or deserted following regulatory scrutiny.

The Trans-Cab deal, for example, was deemed prone to create obstacles for rival platforms, doubtlessly elevating prices for each drivers and passengers. In consequence, Seize finally pursued its personal taxi license, ultimately getting into the inustry as GrabCab. In the meantime, the foodpanda acquisition was dropped after a CCCS probe in February 2024, which raised related competitors issues.

The Seize-GoTo merger might fall by if competitors watchdogs elevate issues much like these seen in these earlier consolidation offers. To mitigate regulatory pushback, the ride-hailing corporations are reportedly in discussions to supply Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, a “golden share” within the merged entity.

A golden share is a particular sort of fairness that grants its holder distinctive rights, typically together with the power to veto key choices or defend nationwide pursuits.

On this case, it could apply solely to the Indonesian operations, giving Danantara the ability to safeguard authorities priorities whereas permitting the merged entity to function throughout the broader area.

Making a US$29 billion tech big

It stays to be seen if the merger will undergo, given these issues.

But when accredited, it could create a Southeast Asian tech big value US$29 billion, combining mobility, supply, e-commerce, and fintech operations below one umbrella. The merger would additionally characterize essentially the most complicated company integration in Southeast Asia’s tech historical past.

This contains aligning company cultures and integrating overlapping items like GrabPay/GoPay and Tokopedia/GrabMart, in addition to managing hyper-local driver, service provider, and person ecosystems throughout completely different nations.

As well as, client blowback to the potential creation of an efficient monopoly over such on a regular basis providers might be monumental.

Technical hurdles round separate cloud architectures, knowledge localisation legal guidelines, AI techniques, and regulatory compliance can even decide whether or not the merger delivers true efficiencies or collapses into expensive integration chaos.

• Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean companies right here.

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