Grab raises $1 billion to expand in Indonesia, eyes more funds

Reuters  |  SINGAPORE 

By and Anshuman Daga

The latest fundraising comes less than two months after it secured $1 billion from and values the six-year-old startup at around $11 billion, a source close to the company said.

The firm was valued at around $6 billion earlier this year when it bought Uber Technologies' regional operations.

"We will continue opening the financing for certain investors that we think will add value," President told on Thursday, declining to give any funding target.

He added that was seeing significant demand from investors globally, both financial and strategic.

The latest funding in Grab came from OppenheimerFunds, China's Ping An Capital, Paul Allen's Vulcan Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others.

Grab already counts deep-pocketed investors such as Chinese ride-hailing firm and Japan's among its backers.

It plans to use the new funds to expand its online-to-offline services, and invest a major portion of the proceeds in Indonesia, as competition heats up with Indonesian rival Go-Jek that is plotting an expansion to Singapore, and

Grab said it had earmarked Indonesia, an emerging battleground for looking to serve a population of over 250 million people, as a priority market.

The ride-hailing firm is also seeking to transform itself into a group, offering services such as digital payments and

Maa said parts of Grab's business, including transportation, were already profitable in some markets, and an initial public offering was not a focus for the company in the short term.

Ride hailing services in are expected to surge to $20.1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025 from $5.1 billion in 2017, according to a Google-report.

(Reporting by Anshuman and in SINGAPORE; Editing by and Himani Sarkar)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, August 02 2018. 13:10 IST