Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery behemoth Grab chose Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Chase to underwrite a possible $2 billion initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported on Monday (Jan. 25), citing sources.
The public listing could happen during the second half of 2021, the sources told Bloomberg, and more financial institutions could be added while negotiations continue.
After failing to partner with Indonesia’s Gojek — now teaming with PT Tokopedia — Singapore-based Grab moved on to consider other strategies. Gojek’s tie-up with Tokopedia could end up going public, according to the news outlet, and would result in a combined entity valuation of roughly $18 billion.
Backed by SoftBank, Grab’s net revenue went up by 70 percent in 2020 with a valuation in excess of $14 billion after a drop triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The startup, which was last valued at more than $14 billion, is now looking to make a bigger move into online finance and food delivery.
Grab and Gojek are Southeast Asia’s two most significant startups to date. Earlier last month Grab and Gojek were thought to be close to combining for a mega-merger. If it had gone through, it would have likely been the biggest merger of online firms in Southeast Asia.
Last week Grab indicated that it was pondering a U.S. IPO of a minimum of $2 billion due to the failed merger talks with Gojek. Grab also announced that Grab Financial Group raised $300 million in a Series A funding round led by Hanwha Asset Management.
Gojek, last valued at $10.5 billion, and Tokopedia, valued at $7.5 billion, would create a combined company worth $18 billion. The talks originally stalled over a power struggle between Grab CEO Anthony Tan and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.
Gojek has about 38 million monthly active users stretching across five Southeast Asian countries. Indonesia-based Tokopedia has 100 million users in that country.
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