Grab co-founders on Fortune’s ‘40 under 40’ list

July 23, 2018 | 16:37

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Grab co-founders Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling have been named in Fortune magazine's '40 under 40' list.

grab co founders on fortunes 40 under 40 list

Grab co-founders Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling

Fortune magazine’s ‘40 under 40’ lists forty of the world’s most productive names who are less than forty years of age.

This year’s luminaries featured several familiar names, like Mark Zuckerberg and Rihanna, as well as new faces, such as Instagram founder Kevin Systrom and Wang Xing, CEO of China’s shopping platform Meituan.

Being named on this list of “overachievers” is a great honour for any young entrepreneur and is usually a boost to his or her (already thriving) career.

While at Harvard Business School, Anthony and Hooi Ling bonded over the idea of making taxis safer in their native Southeast Asia (both hail from Malaysia). Since then the pair have built a business reportedly valued at more than $3 billion and operating in over 30 cities.

In the past year, Singapore-based Grab has raised more than $1 billion, opened an engineering office in Seattle, and partnered with China’s Didi Chuxing, India’s Ola, and Lyft in the US to serve one another’s customers.

The ride-hailing startup’s name is a perfect description of its approach to 2018. In March the company snapped up rival Uber’s Southeast Asian operations, cementing its position as the dominant on-demand taxi provider in the region.

In June, Toyota pumped $1 billion into the business in a round of funding said to value Grab at more than $10 billion. Now the duo is focused on transforming Grab into an “everyday superapp,” offering mobile payments, micro-financing, grocery shopping, and more.

By Thanh Van

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