Invesco commits $300m to Southeast Asia's Grab

The new commitment brings Invesco's total participation in Grab's Series H round to $703 million. This includes $403 million invested by Oppenheimer Funds last July; Invesco acquired the stake when it bought Oppenheimer from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance in October.

"We have been closely watching Southeast Asia and have every confidence in Grab's ability to unlock new opportunities across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services in the region," said Justin Leverenz, team leader and senior portfolio manager for emerging markets at Invesco, in a statement. "Grab is well-positioned, as a super app that is second-to-none in the region, to spearhead the evolution of user-driven technologies that will accelerate progress in Southeast Asia."

Grab launched its Series H round last year and has attracted commitments from a number of financial and strategic investors. Participants include SoftBank Vision Fund, which committed $1.46 billion to the company in March, along with the likes of Toyota Motor Corporation, Yamaha Motor, Booking Holdings, and Microsoft, which are also pursuing strategic partnerships with Grab. The round is expected to value Grab at $11 billion.

While it made its name in ride-hailing, purchasing the Southeast Asia operations of its global rival Uber in 2017, Grab has focused on expanding its O2O offering in recent years. Its services include food delivery, last-mile logistics, and electronic payments, and the company is also exploring a possible expansion into healthcare. The company operates in 336 cities across eight countries, and claims its app has been downloaded onto over 152 million mobile devices.

Grab's most important market is Indonesia, home of its principal rival Go-Jek, which is currently raising a $2 billion Series F round that is expected to value the company at $10 billion. Go-Jek is following a similar diversification agenda, aiming to consolidate a range of services into a single "super-app" like China's WeChat. It is present in more than 200 cities across five countries in Southeast Asia, with two million drivers on its network.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• Singapore
• Grab
• Growth capital
• TMT
• Transportation