Toyota invests in Southeast Asia's Grab
Toyota Tsusho, a division of Japanese automotive giant Toyota Group, has joined the latest funding round for Southeast Asian ride-hailing app operator Grab.
The size of Toyota Tsusho’s investment has not been disclosed. Grab’s funding round already includes $2 billion from SoftBank and Chinese peer Didi Chuxing, and the company indicated in a statement that it expects to close the round at $2.5 billion. This would take Grab’s total disclosed funding above $3.9 billion and bring its valuation to a reported $6 billion.
Toyota Tsusho made the investment from its Next Technology Fund, which it launched in April to invest in innovative technologies, products and services across a range of markets. In a separate statement Grab announced that it will also work with Toyota Motor, Toyota Financial Services Corporation, and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance focused on data analytics to improve driver performance.
The Toyota partnership follows a similar arrangement with Honda, which agreed last year to invest an undisclosed amount and collaborate with Grab on driver education programs and environmental damage mitigation. Grab has also formed a partnership with global industry peers including Didi, India’s Ola and US-based Lyft. The idea is that customers of one service can use the same app to order rides from multiple other services.
Since its founding in 2012 Grab has built the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia, with a presence in 87 cities across seven countries. The company claims to have a 95% market share in third-party taxi-hailing and 72% in private vehicle hailing. SoftBank and Didi have committed multiple rounds of funding between them, along with other investors including Tiger Global, China Investment Corporation, GGV Capital and Vertex Ventures.
In addition to its core transportation-focused product, Grab has branched out into other verticals, such as courier and take-out delivery services. Last December the company expanded its GrabPay cashless payment system, which previously had to be linked to a credit card, into a mobile wallet that can be topped up through various banks, ATMs and convenience stores.
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