Southeast Asia's Grab ups capital-raising target by $2b

It follows a $1.5 billion commitment last month from SoftBank Vision Fund, which brought the Series H to the $4.5 billion mark. The round, which has been dominated by corporates the likes of Toyota Motor Corporation, Yamaha Motor, Microsoft, and Booking Holdings, values the company at $10 billion.

“The support from strategic investors like SoftBank and others, will allow us to grow very aggressively this year across our verticals of payments, transport and food,” Anthony Tan, Grab’s co-founder and CEO, said. “At our current growth rates, we expect to be four times bigger than our closest competitor in Indonesia and across the region by the end of the year.”

Grab’s aggressive fundraising and expansion efforts have highlighted a fierce rivalry with Indonesia-based Go-Jek, which raised $1 billion in a Series F earlier this year from strategic investors including Google and Tencent Holdings. Go-Jek is also said to be worth $10 million. It has followed a similar development trajectory by diversifying from taxi services into a range of consumer segments. 

Since purchasing the Southeast Asia operations of global rival Uber last year, Grab has focused on expanding its O2O offering to include food delivery, last-mile logistics, financial services, and electronic payments. Ming Ma, president of Grab, has also indicated the potential for expansion into healthcare and said the company would make at least six investments or acquisitions this year with a focus on consolidating its position in Indonesia.

Grab claims to have 62% market share in Indonesia in the ride-hailing category. Meanwhile, GrabFood, the company’s restaurant and groceries delivery app, operates in 178 cities across the country compared to 17 at the start of 2018. Delivery volumes are said to have grown almost tenfold during the past year. Overall, Grab’s Indonesian business is projected to drive a doubling of revenue in 2019 versus 2018.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• Singapore
• Grab
• Transportation
• TMT
• Logistics
• Financial Services