Japanese investors commit $856m to Grab

MUFG is investing $706 million with a view to developing bespoke financial services in Southeast Asia, with Grab conferring preferred bank status to MUFG and its partner lenders. TIS is contributing $150 million with plans to jointly develop digital payments infrastructure with Grab across Southeast Asia and Japan.

Grab is currently raising a Series H round, which has a target of $6.5 billion and values the company at $10 billion. It is not clear if MUFG and TIS are investing as part of the round. Series H backers to date include SoftBank Vision Fund, Toyota Motor Corporation, Yamaha Motor, Bookings Holdings, Microsoft, and Invesco.  

It comes as rumors mount around a merger between Grab and its regional rival Go-Jek, which are engaged in a fierce battle for market share and financial support. Go-Jek is currently raising a $2 billion Series F at a valuation of $10 billion and recently saw its CEO Nadiem Makarim step down to take an Indonesian government position. Earlier this week, Grab refuted a report it was discussing a merger with Go-Jek, according to The Straits Times.

Grab said it would use funds from MUFG to grow financial services adoption in Southeast Asia by creating new lending, insurance, and wealth management products, all deliverable through digital channels, for both individual consumers and small to medium-sized enterprises. The TIS partnership will focus on developing new payment technologies and enabling greater adoption of cashless payment options, including the GrabPay app.

While it made its name in ride-hailing, purchasing the Southeast Asia operations of its global rival Uber in 2017, Grab has concentrated on expanding its O2O offering in recent years. Services include food delivery, last-mile logistics, and electronic payments, and the company is also exploring a possible expansion into healthcare. It operates in 339 cities across eight countries, and claims its app has been downloaded onto over 185 million devices, giving access to some nine million drivers, merchants, and agents.

“MUFG has been developing business in Southeast Asia by building a platform centered on our partner banks,” Hironori Kamezawa, COO at MUFG, said in a statement. “We are excited to be able to provide customers with next-generation financial services by combining Grab's advanced technologies and data management expertise with our financial knowledge and knowhow. We believe that this alliance will also generate additional momentum for our ongoing digital transformation of MUFG.” 

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Financials
• North Asia
• Singapore
• Grab
• mitsubishi
• Financial Services
• Logistics
• Japan