SoftBank Invests $2B In Indonesia Through Grab Investment
With so many opportunities springing up in Southeast Asia, the land is fast growing into the next biggest market for investors and startups. Such is the popularity of startups across the region that we have many alternative names operating here. While we have Uber for the rest of the world, Southeast Asia boasts of ride hailing service Grab. Grab is an on demand transportation or ride hailing app, which is considered as the Uber of Southeast Asia.
Not only is the ride hailing service in extreme demand across the region, but they have done extremely well to raise $7 billion in funds for future operations. $2B of these $7B were financed by SoftBank to help Grab in optimizing its presence within the state of Indonesia.
Grab has plans to not just use this money for further plans, but they will also be utilizing this sum for investments in the Indonesian transport sector. Grab has plans to revamp the transport system across much of Indonesia, and they will be doing so through the creation of multiple headquarters in Indonesia and the launch of an electronic vehicle ecosystem in the country.
The money injected into Grab by SoftBank will help them in meeting their goals and setting the right ecosystem across the board.
“I’d like to invest more… We would invest (in) Grab more, and also encourage to invest more in other companies,” SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son mentioned this in a press conference earlier today. “We will create a second headquarters of Grab in Indonesia, and become 5th unicorn and also invest $2b through Grab. On top of that, we will invest more.”
The valuation for Grab is currently at a whopping $14 billion, which is a step above where they were half a year ago.
“With our presence in 224 cities, Indonesia is our largest market and we are committed to long-term sustainable development of the country,” said Anthony Tan, who is the CEO of Grab, in a statement. “We are delighted to facilitate this SoftBank investment, as we believe by investing in digitizing critical services and infrastructure, we hope to accelerate Indonesia’s ambition to become the largest digital economy in the region and improve the livelihoods of millions in the country.”
Grab’s actual footprint is expanding across the region, but Indonesia accounts for a significant portion of the total footprint. Grab has still got a lot to prove but their investment in Indonesia will go a long way in helping them succeed.