Grab Confirms $1.46B SoftBank Investment

Singapore ride-hailing company Grab confirmed that it received a $1.46 billion investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, bringing its Series H to $4.5 billion, the company said. This deal has been a long time coming – as it was first reported back in December by TechCrunch, and brings the company’s total funding up to $7.5 billion.

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This announcement comes days after its Indonesian rival, Go-Jek raised $100 million as part of an ongoing Series F. So far, Go-Jek’s series F is totaling up to $1.2 billion, according to Crunchbase data.

In the table below, we show the many tranches of Grab’s Series H round.

According to Grab CEO Anthony Tan, Softbank’s involvement will help it give users more choice and convenience, and “enhance income opportunities.”

David Thevenon, a partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, says the investment will help Grab pursue “new opportunities across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services as it continues to grow its offline-to-online platform across Southeast Asia.”

While it started as a ride-hailing company, Grab also grew to include food and parcel delivery, bike and car rentals, and payments. It also expanded its services from just Singapore to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Back in December, Crunchbase Reporter Savannah Dowling tracked Grab’s seemingly never-ending Series H. All within the same round, the company got money from a range of companies: automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Group. Also involved were big tech players like Microsoft. Before SoftBank, the company’s most recent infusion of cash came from Yamaha Motor Co. – an investment of $150 million.

Notably, this round will be used to invest more heavily in Indonesia, the company said. It doesn’t hurt that Grab’s top competitor, Go-Jek is based in Indonesia.  As we’ve reported previously, Go-Jek started off as a motorcycle hailing application and then included services like grocery and pharmacy delivery. Like Grab, it’s expanding in Southeast Asia.

In the meantime, Grab says its Indonesian business revenue more than doubled in 2018.  According to Grab, it holds 60 percent of the two-wheel market and 70 percent of the four-wheel market on Go-Jek’s home turf.

Grab told TechCrunch that despite this new cash, the round isn’t over until it says it’s over. So with $4.5 billion and counting, we’ll keep our eyes on Grab (and rival Go-Jek) to see who becomes Southeast Asia’s next “WeChat” first.

Illustration Credit: Li-Anne Dias