Hyundai invests $250m in Southeast Asia's Grab

The investment by Hyundai follows commitments last month from online travel site operator Booking Holdings and Microsoft, and expands the size of the latest funding round to $2.7 billion, according to a release. Hyundai and its affiliate Kia will partner with Grab for a series of electric vehicle (EV) pilot projects across Southeast Asia, intended to drive cost efficiencies for Grab’s drivers.

In addition to providing vehicles, the partnership will also work with governments and infrastructure developers to improve EV infrastructure in the region, and research optimization of EV performance in Southeast Asia’s hot and humid climate.

Hyundai initially partnered with Grab in January after joining the company’s previous funding round led by SoftBank and Grab’s Chinese peer Didi Chuxing. Japanese auto makers Toyota and Honda have also backed the company, in addition to partnering with Grab to share information from its fleet and develop initiatives for drivers such as online insurance.

Grab operates in 235 cities across eight countries in Southeast Asia, offering food and package delivery services along with ride-hailing. It claims to have completed over 2.5 billion rides since its founding in 2012, with its app being downloaded onto 125 million mobile devices. Earlier this year it acquired the Southeast Asia operations of its global rival Uber.

Grab hopes to expand its platform to meet a wide variety of needs, including cashless payments and financial services along with transportation. It recently launched a VC arm to develop Southeast Asia’s technology ecosystem and identify start-ups that have strong synergies with Grab.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• automobiles
• TMT
• Grab