Grab already has a strong presence in the Southeast Asian ride-hailing market. With money from this new funding round in its kitty, the company can better compete with Uber when it sets food in the Southeast Asian market.
Grab, a Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm has raised $750 million in a funding round which was led by the SoftBank Group. The move could potentially boost Grab’s chances of consolidating its leading position in the region ahead of competition from Uber.
With an internet-savvy demographic and thanks to a burgeoning middle class, Southeast Asia is fast emerging as a key battleground for ride-hailing companies.
With Uber selling its China operations to rival Didi, an existing investor in Grab, analysts opine that Uber may now focus its efforts elsewhere, including Southeast Asia.
According to a source who is familiar with the matter at hand, Grab has now been valued at over $3 billion. Its total capital position has increased to over $1 billion, said the company in a statement. Grab has however not detailed the list of its investors in this new round of funding.
A representative from Grab has stated that SoftBank and institutions from China and the U.S. have participated in the new funding round.
Meanwhile Grab has stated it plans on expanding its services in Southeast Asia and significantly invest in mobile payments capabilities.
According to the ride-hailing company, it has already cornered almost 95% of the third-party taxi-hailing services. Its market share in the private-car business has garnered more than 50% of the Southeast Asian market.
Ever since its launch in 2012, the company has expanded rapidly in carpooling, motorbike hailing and delivery businesses. Recently it has teamed up with Lippo, an Indonesian conglomerate, so as to roll out a mobile payment platform in Southeast Asia’s biggest market, Indonesia.
“We are particularly excited about the growth opportunity in Indonesia, where we see an almost $15 billion market for ride-hailing services alone, as well as the potential to extend GrabPay’s platform regionally,” said Anthony Tan, Grab’s Co-founder and CEO.
The company operates in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
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