Grab Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it secured $1.46 billion in fresh funding from the Softbank Vision Fund to support its expansion plan in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
The capital injection from SVF brings the total financing secured in Grab’s current Series H round to more than $4.5 billion.
Other investors in this round include Toyota Motor Corp., Oppenheimer Funds, Hyundai Motor Group, Booking Holdings, Microsoft Corp., Ping An Capital and Yamaha Motor.
“SoftBank and the Vision Fund are long-standing strategic investors and we are grateful for their continued support. The investment is a clear statement of belief in our vision to grow Southeast Asia’s technology ecosystem as the region’s Number 1 super app. 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,” Grab co-founder and chief executive Anthony Tan said.
David Thevenon, a partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, 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 president Ming Maa said that company was blessed with overwhelming shareholder support in its current fundraising round, with strong interest both in terms of capital invested and the quality of strategic partners seeking to support the continued development of Grab.
“We continue to receive new investor interest and look forward to welcoming more global industry leaders as partners in 2019,” Maa said. Darwin G. Amojelar
Grab said it planned to use the funds to advance its super app vision in Southeast Asia, with the aim of bringing more every day services, greater accessibility and convenience to users. Grab plans to expand its verticals such as financial services, food delivery, parcel delivery, content and digital payments and roll out new services announced in 2018.
Built on GrabPlatform, these services include on-demand video, in partnership with HOOQ; digital healthcare, in partnership with Ping An Good Doctor; insurance, in partnership with ZhongAn International; and hotel bookings, in partnership with Booking Holdings.
Grab plans to invest a significant portion of fresh proceeds in Indonesia, where it is the leader in on-demand transport with 60 percent of the two-wheel market and 70 percent of the four-wheel market.
Grab’s Indonesian business is expanding rapidly, with revenue more than doubling in 2018. Grab will use the fresh capital to boost the expansion of GrabFood and GrabExpress and roll out new verticals in the country. Grab is part of the largest digital payments ecosystem in Indonesia through its partnership with OVO and Tokopedia.