Grab Receives USD 2-Billion Funding to Combat Competition in Southeast Asia

On Thursday, August 2, Singapore-based ride-hailing company Grab announced that it has received USD 2 billion in investments to expand and enhance its operations to include food delivery, courier services, and electronic payments, as it fends off would-be competitors that seek to dominate in the fast-growing sector.

The announcement follows news that Go-Jek, an Indonesian ride-hailing app and Grab's regional rival, will spend USD 500 million to penetrate other Southeast Asian markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The biggest contribution came from Japanese car manufacturing behemoth Toyota after it pledged USD 1 billion to Grab a few months ago.

Grab said a huge chunk of the funds will be injected into its Indonesian operations after it partnered with local firm Ovo to expand the country's most widely used mobile payments system.

Research conducted by Google and Temasek--a Singaporean investment company--showed that the Southeast Asian ride-hailing market will be worth USD20 billion by 2025.

Grab operates in 168 cities across eight countries in all--including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines--and became the biggest ride-hailing operator in the Southeast Asian region after Uber closed shop earlier this year.