Singapore's Grab raises $750m round led by SoftBank

According to a statement, other existing backers as well as new investors also contributed to the round. Reuters reports that the new investors include institutions from the US and China. Previous backers include Tiger Global, GGV Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Temasek Holdings-owned Vertex Ventures and Chinese online travel platform Qunar.

The company says the investment brings its total capital position to more than $1 billion and establishes it as the best capitalized technology start-up and mobile internet player in Southeast Asia. The round is said to be the largest in the history of the region's consumer technology space and follows a $240 million commitment from Softbank in late 2014.

The fresh capital will be used to expand transportation services across Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on Indonesia, where the company has assessed the local ride-hailing market as valuing almost $15 billion. It will also be applied to extend the company's GrabPay mobile payment platform as part of a strategy to enable seamless transactions in areas of low banking and credit card penetration.

"Grab is the clear winner in the Southeast Asia mobile space," said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank. "We are committed to supporting local champions like Grab that have a vision for a next-generation internet ecosystem, and look forward to participating in their long-term success."

Founded as GrabTaxi in 2012, Grab claims the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia and one of the most frequently used mobile platforms in the region with up to 1.5 million daily bookings. It offers private car, motorbike, taxi, and carpooling services across six countries and 31 cities, with 1 out of every 4 passengers using multiple services.

Since August last year, the company has nearly quadrupled its total number of drivers and active users, as well as its ride volume. The app has been downloaded onto more than 21 million mobile devices, giving users access to some 400,000 drivers.

In 2014, the company received at least $10 million of Series A funding led by Vertex, which also re-upped weeks later in a $15 million Series B alongside Qunar. Later in the same year, Tiger led a Series C round that included Hillhouse and GGV.

Last year, the company formed a partnership with fellow taxi-hailing players including China's Didi Kuaidi, US-based Lyft and India's Ola, the latter of which has also attracted investment from Softbank.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Singapore
• TMT
• Transportation
• Softbank