Grab Grabs 90 Pct OVO Digital Wallet Stake From Lippo

Southeast Asia’s super app Grab is upping its interest in the Indonesian digital payments startup OVO from 39 percent to 90 percent after buying the stakes of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

Lippo was instrumental in launching OVO and the eCommerce startup Tokopedia, which is about to seal its own merger deal with Grab competitor Gojek to create GoTo. Gojek operates its own eWallet, GoPay.

See also: Gojek Tokopedia Deal Takes On Grab For SuperApp Status

OVO told Reuters on Monday (Oct. 4) that the deal is pending approval from regulators.

“We welcome a greater commitment from Grab in OVO. We’re working in close consultation with the regulators to complete the ownership restructuring process,” OVO said in a statement.

Among Indonesia’s largest digital wallets, the startup had a valuation of $2.9 billion in 2019 and had more than 100 million downloads. The digital economy in Indonesia is projected to hit $124 billion by 2025, according to a study last year by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company.

Indonesia’s 270 million people are largely underbanked, with 50 percent of the country lacking any bank account at all and relying solely on mobile phones for financial services.

Read more: Grab Looks To Take On Gojek Via OVO Merger

Bloomberg’s sources have OVO’s valuation pegged at roughly $2 billion, making Grab’s acquisition valued between $500 million and $1 billion. Indonesia’s biggest digital wallet, OVO has 38 percent of the market in the country, according to Boku’s Mobile Payments Report.

Headquartered in Singapore, Grab has plans in the works to go public by year-end with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth Corp. The deal gives Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup a valuation of about $35 billion, PYMNTS reported, and is on track to be the largest SPAC merger to date.

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Founded in 2012, Grab grew from a ride-hailing and food delivery service into an all-in-one super app offering payments and other financial services. Grab has a current valuation of more than $15 billion. The company has so far raised $12 billion and has about $5 billion in cash reserves.