Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab, which has been making a foray into the fintech scene, today announced an over US$850 million investment from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and TIS.
MUFG will invest up to US$706 million in the company while TIS will invest US$150 million (JPY16.5 Billion).
The investments were meant to support Grab’s effort to further expand into the financial sector.
In two separate statements, Grab detailed its upcoming plans with the two companies.
With MUFG, it plans to “co-develop innovative financial products and services based on … combined customer insights to better cater to the financial needs of Grab’s users, driver-partners and merchant-partners.”
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Grab aims to use the funding to create products and solutions in the lending, insurance, and wealth management verticals for Southeast Asian consumers and SMEs. The services will be delivered through digital channels; most likely the Grab app, a realisation of its super-app ambition.
With TIS, Grab will collaborate on enhancing the digital payment infrastructure in the region and in Japan to enable greater adoption of cashless payment options, such as GrabPay. Both companies will also collaborate on developing emerging payment technologies.
Starting off as a ride-hailing service for taxis in Malaysia, Grab has been expanding into the fintech segment lately, with the particular goal of promoting financial inclusion.
Launching Grab Financial Group in 2018, it has announced partnerships with the likes of Mastercard, Credit Saison, Chubb, and ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co. Ltd.
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Image Credit: Afif Kusuma
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