Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing service Grab Holdings Inc. has received $200 million in new capital from South Korea private equity and venture capital fund STIC Investments Inc., according to Singapore-based Grab.
STIC reportedly wants to increase its exposure in the region's ride-hailing sector. The Seoul-based company put up $100 million from one of its funds and the balance from joint investors.
STIC, founded in 1999, is one of South Korea's largest private equity companies with more than $4.5 billion under management. Some of the company's investments include Vietnam conglomerate Masan Group and South Korea's Big Hit Entertainment, the company that manages the hit K-pop group BTS.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic Grab has been able to secure substantial funding from international investors. Since it was founded in 2012 the company has received more than $10 billion in private investment - making it one of the most financed technology startups in Southeast Asia. One its investors is Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., which injected more than $3 billion in Grab in several funding rounds. According to CB Insights, Grab has a market valuation of more than $14.3 billion.
The company's success and continued attractiveness to investors is attributed to its ability to adapt to market changes. During the pandemic the company offset the shutdown of its ride-hailing operations with its food-delivery and digital-banking services.
This week it announced plans for a new microinvestment and loan product called AutoInvest. Launched by the company's financial technology unit Grab Financial it will allow ride-hailing customers in Singapore to invest money and earn returns of up to 1.8 percent a year. Users can cash out at any time using their GrabPay electronic wallet apps.
According to Grab, the microinvestments will be placed in high-quality, liquid fixed-income funds managed by UOB Asset Management and Fullerton Fund Management. Grab plans to introduce the service first in Singapore in September. Grab also announced plans for other financial products including consumer loans through a partnership with a third party.
