Grab targets $8.81b in funding by end-2019

It wants to seal at least six investments or acquisitions across the region.

Decacorn Grab Holdings expects to raise $8.81b (US$6.5b) of total capital by end-2019 as it guns for its rapid expansion in the region.

According to an announcement, Grab will also seek to invest aggressively, with a commitment to make at least six investments or acquisitions across the region in 2019. Underpinning Grab’s growth is the backing of SoftBank and other key strategic investors who have invested over $6.1b (US$4.5b) in Grab’s current Series H round.

Also read: Tokyo Century's latest investment pushes Grab's series H funding round to over $4.07b

In March, Grab reportedly secured $1.98b (US$1.46b) from the SoftBank Vision Fund. 

“The support from strategic investors like SoftBank and others, will allow us to grow very aggressively this year across our verticals of payments, transport and food. At our current growth rates, we expect to be four times bigger than our closest competitor in Indonesia and across the region by the end of the year,” Anthony Tan, Grab’s co-founder and CEO said in a statement. “As we grow to become the leading super app in Southeast Asia, we see massive opportunities to expand our business and continue to serve our customers, driver-partners and merchants across Southeast Asia.”

Grab’s president Ming Maa also revealed that amongst the firm’s other key markets, Indonesia can expect the ride-hailing firm to invest a significant portion of fresh proceeds. “We are on track to be 4x larger than our nearest competitor and remain the leader in on-demand transport,” he said.

Grab’s Indonesian business is expanding rapidly, with revenue more than doubling in 2018. Grab is said to hold 62% of Indonesia’s ride-hailing market according to ABI Research. Meanwhile, GrabFood is growing rapidly in Indonesia, operating in 178 Indonesian cities from 13 at the start of 2018, with delivery volumes growing almost 10 times in 2018.