Grab Notches $200M Investment From Booking Holdings

Grab Notches $200M Investment from US Firm

Southeast Asia’s Grab has taken in a $200 million investment from U.S.-based Booking Holdings amid a strategic partnership. With the tie-up, users of Booking Holdings’ apps will be able to call for Grab vehicles, while users of Grab’s app will able to book travel services, Reuters reported.

The deal is not Booking Holdings’ first big investment, as the company invested $500 million in China’s Didi Chuxing ridehailing app. The company manages sites such as Priceline.com, KAYAK and Bookings.com. Grab, which is based in Singapore and runs in 235 cities in the Southeast Asia region, seeks to grow beyond ride-hailing with food and parcel deliveries as well as mobile payments.

The news comes after Grab announced in August that it had raised an additional $1 billion from a handful of financial firms, bringing its total with the round to $2 billion at the time. The company said it will use the funding to expand its service and to become the “everyday super app of choice for millions in the region.”

In a press release, Grab said OppenheimerFunds, Ping An Capital, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, Cinda Sino-Rock Investment Management Company, All-Stars Investment, Vulcan Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Macquarie Group and other investors joined Toyota Motor Corp. in investing in the company. In June, Toyota agreed to pay $1 billion for a stake in Grab, acting as the lead investor in a round of funding.

“We are honored to welcome these top-tier financial institutions into our roster of strategic investors and partners,” Grab President Ming Maa said in a press release. “We have seen overwhelming interest from global strategic investors and partners who are keen to partner with us to capture the region’s booming growth.”

Earlier this year, Grab rolled out a suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) for developers, dubbed GrabPlatform. The platform is designed to help developers integrate their services within the company’s app, allowing them to leverage Grab’s user base along with its distribution channels, the company said in an announcement at the time.