Grab announced a $2 billion investment into its Indonesian market for over a period of five years using funds from SoftBank not only to improve its business but to speed up Indonesia's digital infrastructure among others.
The ride-hailing company Grab plans to make its presence stronger in the Southeast Asian market's biggest economy and home to rival Go-Jek by creating a greener transportation network for electric vehicles using geo-mapping so health care and important services get delivered efficiently to the archipelago.
Go-Jek is Indonesia's pioneering on-demand service offering courier and delivery options since it started operating. Grab's investment puts it head to head with Go-Jek.
News of Grab's investment came after SoftBank announced last week its partnership with Apple and Microsoft in its new $108 billion investment fund.
"Indonesia's technology sector has huge potential," said Masayoshi Son, chairman, and CEO of Japan's SoftBank Group.
Grab is going even further in launching a healthcare service that it says will materialize in three months.
Indonesia is Grab's biggest market and has already invested over $1 billion in the country since 2017.
Grab is to make further contributions in this market using the capital it got from SoftBank in March. The company also has investments from U.S.-based asset management company OppenheimerFunds, Microsoft, Toyota, and Hyundai Motor, Microsoft and China's Ping An Capital.
In June, Grab also got a $300 million investment from the management company, Invesco. Grab, valued at $14 billion, plans to raise around $6.5 billion by the end of 2019.
The company started out with ride-hailing but later introduced mobile payment, micro-lending to the unbanked or underbanked in Southeast Asia and food and grocery delivery after buying its rival Uber's regional ride-hailing and food business in March 2018 in exchange for a 2.75 stake in the company.
Likewise, Grab has included pet transport, cinema tickets, movie streaming and hotel bookings in the past years in its services. It is also looking at investing in Indonesian start-ups and aims to double micro-entrepreneurs in the country to 10 million in five years.
The even better news is, the Singapore-based company is going to have its second headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is to be the head office of its food delivery, GrabFood, and house their "rapidly growing" center.
This second HQ will also be where new services of Grab in other South-east Asian countries will get developed. Grab will hire thousands while working with universities in developing tech talents.
Ridzki Kramadibrata, president of Grab Indonesia, said, "Grab very well understands the needs and challenges we have here."
