Japanese firms are in between the rivalry of two ride-hailing startup companies in Southeast Asia. Indonesia's Gojek and Singapore- based Grab fiercely compete in the region.
Grab is backed by Japanese firms including Softbank Group Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., and Yamaha Motor Co. Singapore's largest local bank (DBS Bank), Google, Tencent, Temasek, and Meituan-Dianping backs Gojek.
The growth of the ride-hailing business is evident in the Asian region. However, its success creates concern over taxi firms which see the industry as a threat. Despite Singapore's relatively small population, it now poses as a major market for the ride-hailing business because of its key position as a business hub and its unique condition as a transport sector. Sales for cars to be used for ride-hailing business and electric car rentals significantly increased.
City implementers in the busy cities in China pursued a policy to control the number of private cars to lessen traffic congestion which paralyzed most of the Southeast Asian cities. Car prices in Singapore are among the highest globally because of the demand for the business which lessened car ownership for a status symbol.
The ride-hailing business in Singapore once became a major focus for transportation. The country once encouraged bicycle renting by allowing electric scooters on pedestrian pats. The policy promoted car-sharing and conducting trials for the driverless driving.
Recently, Gojek became part of the Singapore market as they pursue their expansion for the Southeast Asian region. The company announced on Tuesday that the company announced that they will extend their ride-hailing services starting Wednesday to operate on the whole island after a limited rollout last year.
Gojek's foray in the country is a threat to the enjoyed dominance of Grab after the later acquired the Southeast Asian business from the U.S. based Uber in March last year.
Japanese financiers are eager to invest in the startup firms because of their growing popularity due to its technological edge. Ride-hailing business high demand is because of its accessibility. Smartphone-based chauffeured car services are fast growing within the Asian regions.
Didi Chixing, a Chinese ride-hailing giant, and SoftBank invested $2 billion in Grab in June 2017. After a year, Grab announced that they have closed a $1 billion deal from Tokoyo. It is the biggest investment of a ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia which is focused in Indonesia.
Toyota and Grad announced last month that Toyota will provide total care services for around 1,500 Grab-owned vehicles across Singapore.
