SoftBank, Didi Chuxing invest $2b in Southeast Asia's Grab

Both SoftBank and Didi are existing investors in the company. The former committed $250 million in 2014 and then led a $750 million round last September, while the latter participated in a $350 million round in 2015. This preceded the formation of a global partnership involving Didi, Grab, Ola and Lyft – the other two are Didi investees as well – designed to take on Uber.

The additional $500 million in Grab’s latest round – said to be the largest ever raised by a start-up in Southeast Asia – is expected to come from new and existing investors. The round would take the company’s total disclosed funding past the $3.9 billion mark and its valuation to a reported $6 billion. Previous backers include Honda, Tiger Global, China Investment Corporation, Coatue Management, GGV Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Vertex Ventures.

Founded in 2012, Grab has built the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia, with a presence in 65 cities across seven countries. The Grab app has been downloaded onto more than 50 million mobile devices, giving users access to a fleet of over 1.1 million drivers that provide nearly three million rides every day. The company claims to have a 95% market share in third-party taxi-hailing and 71% in private vehicle hailing.

While the core product involves providing transportation solutions covering taxis, private cars, motorbikes, and carpooling services, Grab has moved into other verticals, such as courier and take-out delivery services in Indonesia. In April, the company agreed to buy Kudo, an online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce start-up that operates in the country.

Financial services is the latest area of focus. In December of last year, the GrabPay cashless payment system, which previously had to be linked to a credit card, was expanded into a mobile wallet that can be topped up through various banks, ATMs and convenience stores. The GrabPay Credits top-up payments option has grown more than 80% month-on-month since its launch.

Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder of Grab, said in a statement that, with continued support from Didi and SoftBank, the company “will achieve an unassailable market lead in ridesharing, and build on this to make GrabPay the payment solution of choice for Southeast Asia.”

The push into payments is also happening at Go-Jek, an Indonesia-focused ride-hailing and delivery platform that is battling Grab – and Uber – for market share, predominantly in the metropolitan Jakarta area. Go-Jek, which operates as a booking service for everything from taxis to manicures, received $550 million in funding last year, at a valuation of $1.3 billion, from an investor group that includes KKR and Warburg Pincus.

In addition to backing Grab, SoftBank has invested in Didi. The Japanese group contributed $5 billion of the $5.5 billion funding round that the Chinese ride-hailing player announced in April. It has backed Lyft and Ola as well.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• Softbank
• Didi Chuxing
• Growth capital
• Transportation
• TMT
• Venture