South-East Asian super-app based in Singapore. Grab began in ride-hailing, then expanded into food delivery, digital payments and more. It listed in 2021 at a market value of $40bn, which plunged to just over a quarter of that within a year as investors lost patience with persistent losses. By mid-2025 its value had recovered to $23bn after posting three consecutive quarters of net profits.
Grab's consumer-loan portfolio stood at $566m in early 2025, growing by half year on year. Fintech accounts for 10% of its revenue and the company is planning a big push. It builds credit profiles by blending transaction data from its drivers, riders, merchants and e-wallet users with third-party data, taking advantage of the shabby state of credit reporting in much of South-East Asia.
Grab muscled out foreign ride-hailing rivals such as Uber from most South-East Asian markets, but still faces stiff competition from GoTo in Indonesia, where the two split the ride-hailing market roughly in half. Grab controls around four-fifths of ride-hailing and two-thirds of food delivery across the wider region, though Sea Limited's Shopee is making inroads in food delivery.
Rumours of a merger with GoTo have swirled since 2025. Grab fed the speculation with a $1.5bn issuance of convertible bonds, the uses of which "may include potential acquisitions". A combined entity would be the region's second-largest tech company after Sea Limited. The deal has become mired in Indonesian politics, with tens of thousands of drivers protesting against what they call a "monopoly practice" and officials demanding guarantees for drivers and a significant local stake in the merged entity.
AMAZING BUT TRUE ... If all the salmon caught in Canada in one year were laid end to end across the Sahara Desert, the smell would be absolutely awful.