China-based ride hailing platform Didi Chuxing has invested in Singapore-based on-demand ride service Grab as part of the $1.5bn round it is raising, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Telecommunications firm SoftBank has already been reported to be leading the round, and e-commerce firm Alibaba or its financial services affiliate Ant Financial could also invest, the people told Bloomberg.
Formerly known as GrabTaxi, Grab runs a ride service that takes in taxis, ride sharing, car rental, coaches and shuttle buses across 55 Southeast Asian cities. It books some 2.5 million rides each day and its app has been downloaded to more than 45 million devices.
The company has raised about $1.4bn since it was founded in 2012, its first corporate investor being online travel platform Qunar, which invested in a $15m series B round in 2014 that was led by GGV Capital and backed by Vertex Venture Holdings.
SoftBank invested $250m in Grab later the same year, and took part in a $350m series E round in 2015 that included Didi Chuxing, China Investment Corporation, Coatue Management and Tiger Global Management.
Grab’s last round was a $750m series F in September 2016 that SoftBank led at a $3bn valuation, investing alongside unnamed existing backers. Carmaker Honda and financial services provider Tokyo Century have since provided an undisclosed amount of extra funding.
Alibaba or Ant Financial’s participation would enable them to market their mobile payment platform, Alipay, to Grab’s users. Tencent’s payment service is already available to users of Grab’s chief rival in Southeast Asia, Go-Jek, Tencent having led a $1.2bn round for the company last month.