Southeast Asia ride-hailing start-up Grab raises US$2 billion to finance regional move into on-demand local services
Grab’s existing shareholders include Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, China’s Didi Chuxing and Uber. That major investors from around the globe are backing Grab now may be a signal of growing interest in the region
Singapore’s Grab raised US$1 billion from financial investors on top of the US$1 billion it secured from Toyota Motor Corp, as Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing start-up expands its geographic reach and moves into services like food delivery and payments.
The start-up, founded by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, increased its financing round to US$2 billion with money from Ping An Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, as it wages a costly battle against Indonesia’s Go-Jek. The Jakarta-based rival is expanding outside its home turf and has announced it would invest US$500 million to enter Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
“A significant portion of the capital that we’ve raised will go towards Indonesia, which is our largest market,” President Ming Maa said in an interview. “It’s a sizable market and our investors want us to continue investing.”
Maa said business is increasing sharply with growing demand.
“We are on track to hit US$1 billion revenue” in 2018, he said. “We are the first company in this region to hit US$1 billion revenue within the technology start-up space.”
Still, Maa said the company has not begun to home in on a date for an initial public offering, despite peers like Uber making such plans.
