GoTo, which went public in April, also said that revenue for the first three quarters through the end of September more than doubled to 7.9 trillion rupiah from the same period last year.
But despite that, the net loss for the first nine months was nearly as much as the 21.4 trillion rupiah in red ink recorded for the full year in 2021 and underscores the challenge it has faced in making money.
GoTo has consistently expressed optimism that the situation will improve and Andre Soelistyo, GoTo Group CEO, did so again today.
“We had a strong third quarter, rapidly accelerating our path to profitability as revenues grew and adjusted Ebitda losses narrowed,” Soelistyo said in a news release, referring to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
GoTo was formed in May last year through the merger of ride-hailing and food delivery company Gojek and local e-commerce major Tokopedia.
It is part of a wave of local tech unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – that have emerged in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in recent years.
Others include Indonesian e-commerce platform operator Bukalapak.
Besides GoTo, some other Southeast Asian tech companies have also struggled with profitability.
But now global economic headwinds are forcing some to downsize.
On Friday, GoTo announced in a statement that it has cut 1,300 workers, or about 12% of its employees.
The move came as the company needs to manage costs and make sure its business remains “agile”, the statement said.
“This was an extremely difficult decision, but a necessary one that will support the ongoing health of the business,” it added.
By the end of the second quarter, GoTo said it had reduced structural costs by 800 billion rupiah through efficiency measures in technology, marketing and outsourcing.
The announcement of the job cuts comes as global tech companies including Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Twitter have also moved to lay off workers amid an increasingly gloomy outlook.
GoTo’s shares closed down 5.4% today at 210 rupiah before the earnings announcement.
The shares are trading well below their initial public offering price of 338 rupiah.
GoTo’s market capitalisation stood at 248 trillion rupiah as of today’s closing share price.