The Southeast Asian ride-hailing company, Grab invests $2 billion into Indonesia. The startup makes said in Monday. The investment will last for the next five years. The fund is coming from SoftBank Group.
In March, Grab had secured $ 1.46 billion from the SoftBank Vision Fund. The investment came from carmakers Toyota and Hyundai Motor. Besides, they also get investment from tech giant Microsoft, China’s Ping An Capital and Oppenheimer Funds.
Grab had also secured $ 300 million from Invesco, a management company. Thus, the startup is now valued at $14 billion. Yet, it still plans to raise around 4 .5 billion in total capital by the end of the year.
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It started with ride-haling. However, it also introduced other services. The services include food and grocery delivery, mobile payment, and micro-lending. The micro-lending is for the unbanked or underbanked in Southeast Asia.
Aim Of the Investment
Grab raised roughly $3 billion capital from SoftBank. From that fund, it will make the $2 billion investment into Indonesia.
The startup plans to utilize the fund for speeding up the development of Indonesia’s digital infrastructure. That includes building a next-generation transportation network around electric vehicles in local cities. Besides, it will also improve the way important services, such as health care, are delivered in the country. The company also plans to build its second headquarter in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Also read: Indonesian Startup Pomona Raises $3 Million
Grab invests in Indonesia since Indonesia has huge potential. Besides, Indonesia is Grab most populous market. Grab executives have previously spoken about the importance of the Indonesian market to the company. The ride-hailing giant said on Monday it has already invested over $1 billion into the country since 2017. Thus, by the new investment, Grab has invested $3 billion to Indonesia.
The push is likely to intensify the rivalry with Indonesia’s Go-Jek. The two tech startups compete in several Southeast Asia markets. Yet, Indonesia holds the most promise. That is because of its youthful, internet-savvy population of 260 million.
