Grab expands footprint by setting up shop in Vietnam

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

VIETNAM is next for ride-hailing firm Grab.

The Singapore-based company is set to invest “several hundred million dollars” in Vietnam where it sees its next major growth market. This comes only weeks after it unveiled a $2 billion plan in Indonesia, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

The proposed investment is the latest example of a topnotch regional brand deepening its commitment to Vietnam, one of Asia’s fastest growing economies. And Grab is looking beyond ride hailing services.

“We’re very excited about Vietnam. We see very similar characteristics to Indonesia,” Grab president Ming Maa told Reuters in an interview.

Grab and rival Indonesia-based Go-Jek are evolving from ride-hailing app operators to become one-stop shops for services as varied as payments, food delivery, logistics and hotel bookings in Southeast Asia.

Grab partnered with Vietnamese fintech firm Moca in 2018 to launch a digital wallet. Grab formed a joint venture with Credit Saison, a Japanese credit card company, last year to offer loans and credit analysis to consumers and micro-entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia, according to Reuters.

Singapore is Grab’s second-biggest market. It is building a $135 million headquarters in the city state. The company, which has over 4.5 million drivers in the region, aims to double its revenue to $2 billion this year.

Maa said its total gross merchandise volume (GMV) in food delivery, a segment where it is expanding, has surged 300% in the first half of the year. Reuters said GrabFood now accounts for 20% of the company’s total GMV.

Grab is Southeast Asia’s biggest start-up with an estimated valuation of about $14 billion. The company counts Toyota, Microsoft, China’s Didi Chuxing and Hyundai among its backers.

Reuters, citing a joint study by Google and Temasek Holdings released in November last year, said Southeast Asia’s internet economy is expected to exceed $240 billion by 2025, a fifth more than previously estimated as more consumers use their smartphones to go online.