Grab to pour additional $500m into Viet Nam on favourable business conditions

Southeast Asias largest ride-hailing firm Grab has become Viet Nams leading super app in food delivery and ride-hailing for consumers.- Photo courtesy of Grab

Along with the $200 million it originally planned toinvest this year,the money will be used to launch new services and expand its transport, food and payments networks while looking for new opportunities in new mobility solutions, fintech and the wider logistics industry.

Russell Cohen, Grabs head of regional operations,said: “Favourable business conditions in Viet Nam are a key reason behind the companys decision to increase its investment in the country, which is one of Grabs fastest-growing markets.”

Viet Nams rapidly developing economy and young, mobile-firstpopulation makes it ripe for the adoption of digital services.

Grab aims to create millions of income opportunities that will elevate the quality of life for Vietnamese people.

“As we scale up our food, parcel delivery, transport, and payments business across the country, we hope to tap and invest in new opportunities emerging in the fintech, mobility and logistics space,” Cohen said.

“We have clear market leadership in a range of areas. In particular, in transport and food, and with our mobile wallet.”

Jerry Lim, country head of Grab Viet Nam,said: “By the end of this year we will invest more than $200 millioninto the country to better the livelihoods of users and partners of our ride-hailing,food delivery, logistics, and cashless payments services.

“Todays investment of $500 million will accelerate our efforts to elevate the quality of life for millions of Vietnamese people beyond the end-users of our super app eco-system.”

Grab will also look to establish public-private partnerships with the central and HCM city governments, contributing to national programmes such as the Smart City project initiated by the city government.

Grab has become Viet Nams leading super app in food delivery and ride-hailing for consumerswhile Moca, Grabs strategic partner in payments, is among the leaders in digital payments.

Mocas payments volume on the Grab app grew by 150 per cent in the first half of the year with active monthly users growing at more than70 per cent.

GrabFood, Viet Nams top food delivery platform, saw gross merchandise value in the first half of the year growby 400 per cent,with average daily orders hitting 300,000.

GrabFood merchants have also seen business revenues grow by300 per cent within two to three months of joining the platform.

The Singapore-based firm has announced the Tech For Good development roadmap, which is in line with the Governments key national policy priorities under the national socio-economic development plan.

It aims to continue to grow its R&D headcount in the country and invest in developing Vietnamese tech talent that can solve the biggest challenges in Southeast Asia using artificial intelligence (AI), big data, machine learning, and others.

It will encourage tech entrepreneurship and support the growth of Viet Nams tech start-up eco-system through its flagship GrabVentures programme in line with the Governments national strategy to create 10 technology unicorns by 2030.

It has a target of strengthening the populations overall digital and financial literacy and ensuring 65-70 per cent of them are well educated.

Grab plans to complement existing public transport options, shifting users from private vehicle ownership to shared transport modes such as GrabBus, a marketplace for bus travel that will cater to mass market consumers.

It plans to work with city authorities and policymakers to harness data to make better urban planning decisions that can resolve problems related to traffic congestion and air pollution.

Valued at $14 billion and backed by Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, Grab began in 2012 as a taxi-booking app, gradually diversifying into e-payments, microlending and insurance.

The company currently operates in eight countries in Southeast Asia.

With most of its revenue still coming from its transport business, Grab has had to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to keep pace with regional rivals such as Indonesias Go-Jek.

The firm says it has more than 4.5 million drivers in the region, and hopes to double its revenues to $2 billion this year.

It has over 1,000 employees in Viet Nam, including more than 100 engineers at its research and development centre in HCM City.

Since entering Viet Nam in 2014, Grab has grown as a ride hailing platform for cars, taxis and bikes and in logistics and food delivery.