Jakarta, 11/3/19 (SOLUSSInews) – Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing company, announced on Wednesday that it has received $1.46 billion from Japanese conglomerate Softbank Vision Fund in another round of funding, intensifying its longstanding rivalry with Go-Jek Indonesia.
Grab will use this investment to “advance its super app vision in Southeast Asia” by expanding its financial services, food delivery, parcel delivery, content and digital payments. It also plans to launch new services announced last year. These include on-demand video, digital health care, insurance, and hotel bookings.
“Looking ahead, we aim to continue improving the lives of many millions of Southeast Asians by providing enhanced income opportunities through our platform, and giving our users more choice and convenience,” said Anthony Tan, Grab co-founder and chief executive.
The fresh capital takes Grab’s ongoing Series H funding round to a total of more than $4.5 billion. Other investors participating in the current financing round are online ticketing firm Booking, automotive giants Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor Group and Yamaha Motor, investment firms OppenheimerFunds and Ping An Capital, and technology giant Microsoft.
The announcement came only days after close rival Go-Jek Indonesia announced that it has received $100 million in funding from Indonesia’s largest listed automotive distributor, Astra International. It formed part of $1 billion Series F funding from large investors including Google, JD.com, Tencent Holdings, Mitsubishi Corporation and Provident Capital.
Invest in Indonsia
Grab plans to invest a large portion of the fresh funding in Indonesia to accelerate the expansion of its parcel delivery service GrabExpress and food delivery service GrabFood. The latter is currently available in 178 Indonesian cities, 13 more than at the start of last year.
The company also welcomes new partnerships through its open platform, GrabPlatform, allowing third-party firms to offer their services through the app.
“This funding [from SoftBank Vision Fund] won’t be the last. We are still seeing large interest from both global and regional investors, so opportunities are still open,” Grab Indonesia president Ridzki Kramadibrata said.
Grab currently dominates ride-hailing in Indonesia, where it controls 60 percent of the two-wheel and 70 percent of the four-wheel market, according to company data. Thats according toThe Jakarta Gobe (tJG). (S-tJG/jr)
