Grab is grabbing some more $$$ for its aggressively expanding ride-hailing business. SE Asia’s leading ride-hailing service provider has raised a new funding round worth around $1.46 billion(USD) from SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The capital is a part of larger fundraising drive in an effort to expand its operations by introducing newer services in the region.
This new funding is a part of the company’s on-going Series H funding round in which Grab has so far raised more than $4.5 billion. These investments have come in from car makers like Toyota and Hyundai Motor, tech giant Microsoft, China’s Ping An Capital and U.S.-based OppenheimerFunds.
Following this new funding from SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund, the valuation from Grab now stands at $14 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, the company has not revealed the new valuation publicly.
Grab President Ming Maa said in a statement the company has seen overwhelming shareholder support in the current fundraising round, “with strong interest both in terms of capital invested and the quality of strategic partners.” He added that the company continues to “receive new investor interest” and he looks forward to “welcoming more global industry leaders as partners in 2019.”
Commenting on this development, SoftBank Investment Advisers partner David Thevenon, said:
We have been working alongside Grab for a number of years and are privileged to support the evolution of its user-driven technologies. This investment will help the company explore exciting new opportunities across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services as it continues to grow its offline-to-online platform across Southeast Asia.
Grab will use the newly raised funding to expand its super app strategy across the region, with a focus on Indonesia – the home ground of archrival GOJEK – where Grab claims to be the leader in ride-hailing and O2O (online-to-offline) services. It will also spend a portion of the funding for the expansion of
Grab and Go-JEK, Southeast Asia’s two most valuable startups, are aiming to become a super app and expand swiftly in everything from mobile payments to food delivery. Go-Jek recently raised over $1 billion in its ongoing funding round from a clutch of investors. Both these companies are using the funding to shore up their positions in Indonesia and expand their operations across the region.
