Automotive giant Toyota’s $1 billion investment in Singapore-based company Grab represents the largest ever made in a ride-hailing firm.
Grab is foremost a ride-hailing firm similar to Uber. In fact, Grab acquired Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia.
Also similar to Uber is Grab having its own recently-unveiled food delivery service, GrabFood. The company is even launching an e-payment service, GrabPay.
Considering the wild success of Uber, it’s unsurprising investors are throwing their wallets open for any company which could follow in its footsteps.
Ming Maa, President of Grab, said:
“As a global leader in the automotive industry, Toyota’s investment in Grab is based on their conviction in our leadership in driving the adoption of new mobility solutions and expanding O2O mobile services, such as GrabFood and GrabPay, in the region.
Grab is the first Southeast Asian technology startup to have achieved run rate revenues of over US$1 billion across an installed mobile base of over 100 million users.
Our rapid user and revenue growth is a testament to our ability to hyper-localise, efficiently execute, and provide the highest efficiency platform in a region as diverse as Southeast Asia.
We are honoured to be supported by industry leaders including Toyota, Uber, Didi and SoftBank.”
Toyota’s investment is the latest in Grab’s ongoing financing round. The company also made an earlier undisclosed investment last year.
Shigeki Tomoyama, Executive Vice President at Toyota, comments:
“I am delighted that we are strengthening our collaboration, which utilises Toyota’s connected technologies, with Grab.
Going forward, together with Grab, we will develop services that are more attractive, safe, and secure for our customers in Southeast Asia.”
The companies will be exploring how the Toyota Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) could enrich the experience for drivers on the Grab platform with features such as predictive maintenance and telematics-based insurance.
What are your thoughts on Toyota’s investment in Grab? Let us know in the comments.
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