The Venture Codex

Participated · Series F · Aug 2018

Grab operates as a Southeast Asian "super app" combining on-demand transportation, delivery, and financial services. The company said it will use the latest $300M investment to further strengthen its regional presence and unlock more opportunities across those business lines. Grab is also exploring opportunities and collaborations beyond Southeast Asia, including a recent investment and deeper partnership with London-based Splyt. That partnership and an $8M Series A investment in Splyt allow Grab users traveling outside Southeast Asia to book rides through Grab’s platform fulfilled by Splyt partners. The $300M from US-headquartered Invesco brings that firm's total investment in Grab to $703M, which includes $403M that OppenheimerFunds invested in July 2018. Grab previously raised $1.46B from the SoftBank Vision Fund in March 2019 and is targeting $6.5B in total capital between June 2018 and the end of the year. Invesco, which has a presence across several Asian markets, manages approximately $1.1 billion in assets for its clients worldwide. Grab provides an on‑demand O2O mobile platform across Southeast Asia, offering services such as payments via GrabPay, food ordering through GrabFood, parcel delivery with GrabExpress, and ride‑hailing. The company is aiming to expand the range of everyday O2O services and evolve into a regional "super app." It recently launched GrabFresh, an on‑demand grocery delivery service in Jakarta with plans to roll out to other cities later in 2018. Grab said it will use proceeds from its current financing to broaden partnerships and the universe of services available to users. A significant portion of the funds will be invested in Indonesia. The company raised a large financing round (see deal details) to support these growth initiatives. GrabTaxi is a Singapore-based automated, location-based smartphone booking and dispatch platform for the taxi industry in Southeast Asia. Launched in 2012 and led by Anthony Tan, the company operates in 23 cities across six countries: Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. GrabTaxi raised $350m in this funding round, bringing total funding to over $700m. Backers included Coatue and China Investment Corporation among others. The company is hiring. The platform focuses on taxi booking and dispatch. GrabTaxi, founded in 2012, operates a GPS‑enhanced smartphone taxi‑dispatch service that allows passengers to hail the nearest taxi. The company serves 17 cities across six Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. Tens of thousands of taxi drivers use GrabTaxi’s smartphone technologies to receive bookings, and the app has over 2.5 million downloads and about 500,000 monthly users. GrabTaxi’s stated mission is to revolutionize the taxi industry by creating safer, more reliable rides and improving drivers’ livelihoods. Following rapid growth, the company plans to accelerate regional expansion and leverage partnerships to drive further adoption. GrabTaxi operates a mobile app for booking licensed taxis and has expanded into private car (GrabCar) and motorbike taxi services across 16 cities in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. The company has seen its app downloaded more than 2.1 million times, with over 400,000 monthly active users and a claimed network of more than 50,000 drivers. CEO Anthony Tan said the new funding will be used to hire talent to build a world-class app, improve driver loyalty programs and generally grow and expand the service. GrabTaxi has been rolling out new service types and plans to announce an additional city expansion before month-end. The company has not disclosed revenue or profitability timelines. It views increased competition, including from Uber, as a way to drive consumer awareness and improve service levels for drivers.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2018

Grab Financial Group operates as Grab's financial-services arm, delivering digital payments, AutoInvest micro‑investment features, insurance products and other consumer and SME financial services through the Grab app. The unit launched several new financial products for consumers and SMEs in August 2020 and has expanded offerings including micro‑investments and loans. Its revenue grew more than 40% in 2020 versus 2019, driven by consumer adoption of AutoInvest and insurance products. GFG benefits from close operational synergy with Grab, the region’s largest unicorn, which has supported scale and distribution. The broader market for digital financial services in Southeast Asia expanded during the COVID‑19 pandemic, supporting GFG’s growth trajectory. Related strategic moves include Grab-Singtel’s consortium being awarded a full digital-banking license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December 2020, which could further enable financial-services expansion. Grab began as a ride-hailing service and has expanded into food delivery, hotel booking, and payments. It is especially popular across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The app has been downloaded onto more than 166 million mobile devices in the region. The company has raised nearly $10 billion in total, including a recent over $700 million funding from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has said it wants to make its financial services available to Grab’s users, indicating deeper fintech integration. Grab was founded by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling in June 2012. Grab is a Singapore-based ride-hailing and super app operator that became Southeast Asia’s undisputed ride-hailing leader after acquiring Uber’s regional business. The company offers on-demand services and payments and is pursuing further expansion across markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. Grab is exploring a spinout of its financial services business that could attract investors including PayPal and Ant Financial. It is Southeast Asia’s highest-capitalized startup and has been running a large, rolling Series H to fund growth and fend off rivals like Go-Jek. The company has raised $7.5 billion to date following a new $300 million investment from Invesco announced in this article. Prior Series H activity includes a $1 billion capital injection from Toyota last June and contributions that swelled the round to $4.5 billion, with Grab later saying it would add $2 billion to reach a $6.5 billion close. Grab is a Singapore-based ride-hailing company that has expanded into a super app offering mobility, food delivery, parcel delivery, digital payments and financial services. The company is pursuing further platform expansion and plans to build more services on its app across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services. Recent partnerships include a content streaming tie-up with Hooq and a joint venture with Ping An Good Doctor to develop AI-based medical services. Grab is in an active Series H fundraising process and has attracted significant strategic investors. SoftBank Vision Fund invested $1.46 billion as part of a $4.5 billion Series H round that values the company at about $14 billion, according to CNBC sources. The round also includes strategic capital from automakers Toyota and Hyundai Motor as well as Microsoft, Ping An Capital and OppenheimerFunds, which Grab says demonstrates shareholder and partner interest for continued growth across Southeast Asia. Grab operates ride-hailing, food delivery (Grab Food) and logistics services across eight markets. The company says it has completed three billion rides and claims 130 million downloads. Grab is pursuing an ongoing Series H fundraising, aimed at a sizable capital raise and anchored by a $1 billion investment from Toyota. Other Series H contributors named in reports include Microsoft, Booking Holdings and Yamaha Motors, and SoftBank is transferring its investment to its Vision Fund with plans for further investment. To date Grab has raised $6.8 billion and was most recently valued at $11 billion. The company faces competition from Go-Jek as it expands its regional footprint.