Today, Grab announced that it has raised US$2 billion for its current round of financing.
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation led the round, and other investors such as OppenheimerFunds, Ping An Capital, Mirae Asset – Naver Asia Growth Fund, Cinda Sino-Rock Investment Management Company, All-Stars Investment, Vulcan Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Macquarie Capital also took part in the financing.
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Said Ming Maa, President of Grab, “We are honoured to welcome these top-tier financial institutions into our roster of strategic investors and partners.”
“Grab is today the industry-changing O2O platform that enables millions of consumers and entrepreneurs to come online and drive the digital economy in Southeast Asia. We have seen overwhelming interest from global strategic investors and partners who are keen to partner with us to capture the region’s booming growth.”
Will Use Funds To Further “Everyday Super App” Ambition
According to the press release, Grab will be using the funds to expand the range of O2O services in the Southeast Asia market in its bid to grow to become the “everyday super app of choice” for the region.
Apart from their ride-hailing service, Grab has expanded into food delivery (GrabFood), digital wallets (GrabPay), logistics (GrabExpress), and most recently, grocery delivery via the launch of GrabFresh.
GrabFresh is currently only available in Jakarta, Indonesia, and other cities are set to follow in the later part of 2018.
Grab will also use a “significant portion” of the newly-raised funds to continue investing in Indonesia.
It is reported that half of Grab’s 7.1 million “micro-entrepreneurs” on its platform reside in Indonesia.
Through Grab’s partnership with local wallet and rewards programme, OVO, GrabPay since gotten more than 60 million downloads.
GrabFood has also expanded from Jakarta to serve 28 cities and towns across Indonesia, with its Gross Merchandise Value in Indonesia “almost quadrupling in the first half of 2018”. GrabExpress’ GMV in Indonesia had also “more than doubled in the first half of 2018”.
It is interesting to note that Indonesia is also the home ground of Go-Jek, perhaps one of Grab’s biggest competitors in the Southeast Asian region at the moment.
In May, Go-Jek announced that it will invest about US$500 million to enter four new markets – Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines – within the next four months.
This expansion will see Go-Jek introducing ride-hailing services first, but it intends to eventually replicate its other services offered in Indonesia such as food and grocery deliveries.
The competition is heating up in Southeast Asia – whose side are you on?
Featured Image Credit: Shinya Sawai
