WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Grab Monday said that Didi Chuxing and SoftBank Group Corp. will invest up to $2.0 billion to lead the Singapore-base ride-hailing company's new financing round.
Grab, considered to be Uber's biggest rival in Southeast Asia, also expects to raise additional $500 million from existing and new investors. Grab claims this investment to be the largest single financing in the history of Southeast Asia.
Grab CEO and Co-founder Anthony Tan said, 'We are delighted to deepen our strategic partnership with DiDi and SoftBank. We're encouraged that these two visionary companies share our optimism for the future of Southeast Asia and its on-demand transportation and payments markets, and recognize that Grab is ideally positioned to capitalize on the massive market opportunities.'
Grab operates one of the largest transportation network in Southeast Asia with nearly 3 million daily rides. Grab offers private car, motorbike, taxi, and carpooling services across 7 countries and 65 cities in Southeast Asia.
The funding comes at a time when Grab is trying to expand into consumer technology firm that also offers loans, electronic money transfer and money-market funds.
In February, Grab announced plans to invest $700 million in Indonesia over the next four years. The company will open an R&D center in Jakarta and also targets hiring 150 engineers over the next two years.
Southeast Asia's ride-hailing market could grow to $13.1 billion by 2025 from $2.5 billion in 2015, WSJ reports says, citing a study of Google and Singapore state-investment firm Temasek Holdings.
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