Grab bags $850 million from Japanese investors

Grab wraps up an investment of $850 million from Japanese investors

MUFG, one of the world’s largest financial institutions and the largest bank in Japan, will invest $706 million into Grab while TIS, the leading provider of network solutions and system integration services, will invest $150 million.

This latest fundraising from Japanese investors comes off the back of Grab’s rapid growth in 2019 where the company established itself as the leading ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payments provider in Southeast Asia. Grab Financial Group (GFG) has also expanded rapidly in 2019, with the addition of financial services products like consumer insurance and lending. GFG has also applied for a digibank licence in Singapore and launched GrabInvest, its wealth management solution.

Speaking on the investment and partnerships, Ming Maa, president of Grab, said, “We are excited to work with our partners MUFG and TIS to co-develop financial products and solutions for the region. Ensuring greater access to affordable and accessible financial services and products is key to growing financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. The continued support from world-leading investors demonstrates their confidence in Grab’s super app strategy and our ability to build a sustainable long-term business.”

Under the partnership with MUFG, the companies will co-develop next-generation financial products and services based on their combined customer insights to better cater to the financial needs of Grab’s users, driver-partners, and merchant-partners.

As part of the agreement between Grab and TIS, the two companies will collaborate on enhancing the digital payment infrastructure in the region and in Japan to enable the greater adoption of cashless payment options. The two companies will also collaborate on developing emerging payment technologies.