SINGAPORE (Aug 2): Grab Holdings today ended months of speculation and confirmed that it has raised US$2 billion ($2.7 billion) in a round of fundraising aimed at pushing Grab to be the leading technology player in Southeast Asia.
Toyota Motor Corporation led the round of financing, with a US$1 billion investment into the ride-hailing provider that was announced in June.
The Japanese carmaker was joined by a slate of leading global financial institutions, including 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.
Grab says it will use the funds to expand the range of online-to-offline (O2O) services it provides in the region. Beyond its core ride-hailing services, Grab is aiming to become a “super-app”, a one-stop solution to meet the everyday needs of millions of users in Southeast Asia.
A significant portion of the proceeds from the current round of financing will be used to invest in Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the fourth most populous country in the world.
More than half of the 7.1 million micro-entrepreneurs on Grab’s platform reside in the archipelago, the company says in a statement on Thursday. OVO, the company’s Indonesian version of its GrabPay mobile wallet, has also surpassed 60 million downloads and is now “the country's most widely accepted mobile payments ecosystem,” Grab says.
In addition, Grab says the gross merchandise value (GMV) for its food delivery service GrabFood has nearly quadrupled in Indonesia in 1H18, while GMV for motorbike courier service GrabExpress has more than doubled over the same period.
“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,” says Ming Maa, president of Grab.
“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,” he adds. “We are honoured to welcome these top-tier financial institutions into our roster of strategic investors and partners.”
