On Monday, its former Chinese rival Didi Chuxing and Softbank (sbhgf) officially announced that they had invested a further $2 billion in Uber's largest rival in Southeast Asia: Singapore-based ride-hailing app, Grab (grabtaxi).
Southeast Asian ride-hailing service Grab expects to raise US$2.5 billion in a record round of fundraising to cement its lead over Uber Technolgies in the region and grow its payments platform.
A source confirmed that this new money gives Grab a post-money valuation of more than $6 billion.
The company claims a 95 percent market share in third-party taxi hailing and 71 percent market share in private vehicle hailing in Southeast Asia. A Grab representative confirmed that SoftBank's Vision fund is not part of the current commitment, that is company from SoftBank Group Corp. It operates private auto, motorcycle, taxi and carpooling services across seven countries in the region, with 1.1 million drivers.
"SoftBank is excited to deepen this partnership and we look forward to continuing to support Grab's journey", said SoftBank Group Corp Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.
Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi, believes that Grab is establishing leadership in south-east Asia's internet economy based on its market position, technology, and local insight.
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This is not the first time SoftBank is investing in the ride-hailing company, leading the funding round last September as well as reportedly pouring in US$1 billion in March this year.
Grab bought Indonesian payment service Kudo earlier this year, and has said it is seeking more acquisitions to support rapid growth.
Operating in seven countries, Grab is south east Asia's most popular ride-sharing firm.
Besides Uber, Grab also competes with hailing start-up Go-Jek, reportedly valued at $3 billion, in Indonesia. "We're encouraged that these two visionary companies share our optimism for the future of Southeast Asia and its on-demand transportation and payments markets, and recognize that Grab is ideally positioned to capitalize on the massive market opportunities", said Grab's group chief executive officer (CEO) and Co-founder Anthony Tan.
Grab's fundraising comes at a time when San Francisco-based Uber has been beset by complaints about its workplace culture, a federal inquiry into software to help drivers avoid police, and an intellectual property lawsuit by Waymo, the self-driving auto unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc.
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