Southeast Asia's Grab raises $150m from Yamaha
Japan’s Yamaha Motor has invested $150 million in Southeast Asia-based ride-hailing app Grab as part of a strategic partnership aimed at developing the company’s motorcycle hailing services in the region.
According to a statement, the partnership will allow Grab to leverage Yamaha’s technology and safety expertise to improve the safety and skill level of its biker partners in order to increase customer satisfaction, while also lowering the barriers to motorcycle ownership. Yamaha will use Grab’s customer data in Southeast Asia and experience with ride-hailing to stimulate future product development.
The companies plan to focus their efforts on Indonesia, which Grab says is its biggest market with a 65% market share in the local ride-hailing space. Grab announced in February that it would invest $700 million in Indonesia over the next four years, and has committed an additional IDR3 trillion ($250 million) to invest in start-ups in the country through its VC arm Grab Ventures.
Yamaha’s investment is the latest in a string of strategic partnerships announced by Grab this year with companies such as auto makers Hyundai and Toyota, along with technology-focused players like Microsoft and travel site operator Booking Holdings. Grab has raised more than $2.8 billion this year, including the latest investment.
Since its founding in 2012, Grab has expanded to 235 cities across eight countries in Southeast Asia, offering food and package delivery services along with ride-hailing and adding a host of other capabilities, including financial services and hotel booking. The company claims to have the largest land transportation fleet in the region following its acquisition of the Southeast Asia operations of global rival Uber earlier this year.
Grab’s most significant rival following the exit of Uber is Go-Jek, which closed a $1.5 billion Series E round earlier this year. Like Grab, Go-Jek has expanded into multiple verticals and now has divisions for ride-hailing and delivery, online-to-offline local services, and online payments.
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