Ride-hailing company Grab on Monday (Jul 24) announced up to US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) will be raised from China's Didi Chuxing and Japan's SoftBank in its latest financing round. Grab added in a press release that it anticipates to raise an additional US$500 million to bring the total to US$2.5 billion from existing and new investors, which it claims to be the largest single financing ever in Southeast Asia. "Grab is establishing a clear leadership in Southeast Asia's Internet economy based on its market position, superior technology, and truly local insight," said founder and CEO of Didi Chuxing Cheng Wei. "By deepening our strategic partnership, Didi Chuxing and Grab reaffirm our shared commitment to innovating localised solutions to global urban development challenges from the world's fastest growing marketplaces." This sentiment was echoed by chairman and CEO of SoftBank Masayoshi Son, who said in the press release that Grab is a "tremendously exciting company in a dynamic and promising region" and it is excited to deepen the partnership. This is not the first time SoftBank is investing in the ride-hailing company, leading the funding round last September as well as reportedly pouring in US$1 billion in March this year. DRIVING INTO MORE SECTORS Building on soaring user numbers of its Grab ride-hailing app and GrabPay function, the five-year-old start-up aims to transform into a consumer technology firm that also offers loans, electronic money transfer and money-market funds. Grab bought Indonesian payment service Kudo earlier this year, and has said it is seeking more acquisitions to support rapid growth. Grab competes with the likes of Uber, the world's largest ride-hailing service, and Indonesia's Go-Jek in Southeast Asia, which is fast becoming a battleground for startups vying for the attention of about 600 million people. Tencent Holdings invested around US$100 million to US$150 million in Go-Jek, sources told Reuters earlier this month. Grab's fundraising comes at a time when San Francisco-based Uber has been beset by complaints about its workplace culture, a federal inquiry into software to help drivers avoid police, and an intellectual property lawsuit by Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet. Grab's previous investors include sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, hedge fund Coatue Management, venture capital firm GGV Capital, and Vertex Ventures Holdings - a subsidiary of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings.
