Grab Expands Payments To Vietnam

Grab, a Southeast Asian ridehailing company, announced Tuesday (Sept. 11) that it has inked a partnership with Vietnam’s Moca Technology and Service company.

According to a report in Reuters, the deal furthers Grab’s push into digital payments and financial services. “This is a great step forward; I think the Moca team is great, their technology and solutions are great, and, together with the combined expertise of our Grab team, we can truly move Vietnam toward a cashless economy,” Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling told reporters a press conference on Tuesday.

According to the report, Grab is the leading ride-hailing payer in Vietnam, pushing out Uber via a deal earlier this year. The companies didn’t provide more details about the partnership, but said a joint service is scheduled to be launched in October.

“This strategic collaboration with Moca marks an important milestone for Grab in Vietnam as [it] seeks to accelerate [its] growth in one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia,” Tuan Anh Nguyen, head of Grab Financial Group Vietnam, said in the same report.

Grab, which acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia business in the first quarter, said earlier this year that it would launch Grab Ventures, where it would invest in sectors as far-flung as transport and food services, Reuters reported. The firm will look to partner with eight to 10 startups through the next two years and may make direct investments. Grab is in growth mode, having snagged $1 billion in a fundraising round last year. Earlier this year, the company launched a consumer financing joint venture with Credit Saison, a Japanese consumer financing firm, focused on the unbanked population.