Japanese telecom giant Softbank Corp is set to invest US$250 million in Southeast Asian mobile taxi booking app GrabTaxi, the two firms said yesterday, as rivalry in the region between US-based Uber and homegrown rivals increases.
In a statement, the pair said the deal would make Softbank the biggest investor in the Malaysia-based startup.
“This new round of funding will help drive our mission of revolutionizing and improving the way Southeast Asians commute more aggressively than ever before,” GrabTaxi’s chief executive and founder Anthony Tan (陳炳耀) said in the statement.
Photo: Bloomberg
GrabTaxi, which is also backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Ltd, operates in 17 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Its app employs smartphone and satellite technology to match customers with registered taxis close to their location.
According to GrabTaxi, the service has the largest network of its kind in Southeast Asia, with more than 500,000 active users and 2.5 million app downloads to date. It currently has a total of 60,000 taxi drivers in its network, up fourfold from that last year, the firm said.
With the Softbank investment, GrabTaxi has raised US$340 million in the past 14 months, it added. The company was founded in 2012 by Tan, the scion of one of Malaysia’s richest families.
The fresh investment comes as Uber attempts to gain a foothold in the region despite multiple regulatory tangles and already fierce competition.
Within Southeast Asia, Uber operates in the same six markets as GrabTaxi, after entering Singapore last year. It does not release operational statistics.
Malaysian and Indonesian authorities have said Uber services that utilize private vehicles are illegal, while Thai authorities last week indicated that they are also banning the service.
Other major taxi apps in Southeast Asia include Indonesia’s Blue Bird, regional player EasyTaxi, backed by German startup incubator Rocket Internet, as well as London-based Hailo which operates in Singapore.
The apps are seen as revolutionizing the taxi industry, which has long been plagued by inefficient cartels and price-gouging drivers.
Softbank vice chairman Nikesh Arora said it would support “GrabTaxi’s further expansion in the region.”
SoftBank in October announced a US$627 million investment in Indian online marketplace Snapdeal and said that it was jointly investing US$210 million in ANI Technologies, better known as the taxi booking app Ola Cabs.
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