Nicknamed Go-Jek Tech Valley, the ride-hailing startup’s office in the city houses its engineering team

Reports have been circulating about Indonesian ride-hailing startup Go-Jek closing down Go-Jek Tech Valley, its Jogjakarta-based office which houses the company’s engineering team.

According to Detik, the office had been shut down since last week. The reason for the closure is reported to be the company’s growing focus in maintaining its engineering team in Bangalore, India, which it gained through acquisitions of C42 Engineering and CodeIgnitio, and later LeftShift.

The report stated that team members are being allocated to the company’s offices in Jakarta and Bangalore, though it is also stated that “many” employees had decided to resign from Go-Jek in order to stay in Jogjakarta.

Also Read: [Updated] Breaking: Go-Jek co-founder Michaelangelo Moran has left the company

GTV is located in a traditional Javanese style bungalow in Sleman, a regency located in the north of Jogjakarta. The office was opened in September 2015, based on the idea of Go-Jek’s then VP of Product Alamanda Shantika, who announced her resignation in October this year.

GTV originally houses 11 staffs, but it has grown into 70 within the first six months since opening.

During a visit to Go-Jek’s HQ in Kemang, South Jakarta, the company’s spokesperson said that Jogjakarta was chosen due to its abundant of IT talents; the city is also known for its budding creative industry and relatively low living costs.

Go-Jek spokesperson responded to e27‘s query about the closing of GTV.

“Go-Jek does not close down its office in Jogjakarta, but instead we integrate and consolidate our engineering and development centre in Indonesia to Jakarta. We give opportunities for every employee in Jogjakarta to move to Jakarta,” the company explained.

Go-Jek also stated that placing their engineering team in Jakarta will allow team members to “get greater access to various new experiences and knowledge” so that they can continue on “delivering products and services that can be a solution for users’ daily problems, while helping driver partners to increase their welfare.”

“With this consolidation of engineering team, we believe that interaction and learning process within Go-Jek engineering team will be stronger and better,” it stated.

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