Alibaba plans to invest $3 billion in ride-hailing Grab, says Bloomberg

Grab, valued at $14 billion, is the biggest ride-hailing firm from Southeast Asia and has Uber and SoftBank as backers

Chinese Alibaba raises $1.7 billion in Hong Kong stock exchange. Photo: Shutterstock

15.Sep.2020 09:01 BRT

The Chinese conglomerate and owner of e-commerce platform AliExpress will be the sole investor in Grab’s funding round;
Grab has expanded into financial services, food delivery and mobile payments over the last few years.

Alibaba Group is in talks to invest $3 billion in Grab, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing firm, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Chinese conglomerate and owner of e-commerce platform AliExpress will be the sole investor in the funding round and will spend a portion of the funds to acquire some of the Grab stock held by Uber, the Bloomberg report added.

Uber had left the Southeast Asian market in March 2018 and took a 27.5% stake in Grab’s business.

Grab, which has an estimated valuation of $14 billion and counts SoftBank as one of its backers, expanded into financial services, food delivery and mobile payments over the last few years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic hurt its mainstay ride-hailing business.

In June, Grab announced a 5% reduction in staff numbers as it cut costs amid slower growth.