Uber sells Southeast Asia ops to Grab

Grab merges with Uber in Southeast Asia

Grab today announced that it has acquired Uber’s Southeast Asian operations. Grab will integrate Uber’s ridesharing and food delivery business in the region into its existing multi-modal transportation and fintech platform.

Following the deal, Grab will take over Uber’s operations and assets in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. As part of the acquisition, Uber will take a 27.5 per cent stake in Grab and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grab’s board.

The deal marks a new era of growth for Grab. In terms of food delivery, Grab will rapidly expand its existing GrabFood businesses in Indonesia and Thailand to two more countries—Singapore and Malaysia—following the integration of the Uber Eats business. GrabFood will be available across all major Southeast Asian countries within the first half of 2018.

Regarding transportation, Grab will grow its core transport offering to include more localised transport services and new mobility solutions, in partnership with other transport providers and carmakers.

In terms of payments and financial services, Grab will continue to enhance and expand its suite of offerings under Grab Financial, including mobile payments, micro-financing, insurance, and other financial services for millions of underserved and unbanked consumers, micro-entrepreneurs, and small businesses in the region. GrabPay, as a mobile walletm will be available across all major Southeast Asian countries by the end of the year.

Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-founder of Grab, said, “Today’s acquisition marks the beginning of a new era. The combined business is the leader in platform and cost efficiency in the region. Together with Uber, we are now in an even better position to fulfil our promise to serve our customers. Their trust in us as a transport brand allows us to look towards the next step as a company: improving people’s lives through food, payments, and financial services.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said, “This deal is a testament to Uber’s exceptional growth across Southeast Asia over the last five years. It will help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our products and technology to create the best customer experience on the planet."

To minimise disruption, Grab and Uber are working together to promptly transfer Uber drivers and riders, Uber Eats customers, merchant partners, and delivery partners to the Grab platform.

The Uber app will continue to operate for two more weeks to ensure stability for Uber drivers. Uber Eats will run until the end of May, after which Uber delivery and restaurant partners will move to the GrabFood platform.