Grab adds US$300M to warchest with Invesco funding
Invesco, an American investment management company, has plunged an additional US$300 million into Grab. The additional investment brings their total stake in the Southeast Asian ride hailing firm to US$703 million.
The money will be used to “accelerate expansion” in Southeast Asia. In particular, the investment will focus on GrabFood and Grab Financial Group (the financial services product under Grab).
Grab is focussed on these two services because they are relatively new but showed positive traction metrics. Thus, according to a spokesperson, Grab is doubling down on the two products in order to take advantage of the current growth momentum.
The original US$403 million was actually invested by a New York City financial managment company named OppenheimerFunds. Invesco acquired the company — and the Grab stake — back in July 2018.
““We are very excited to increase our stake in Grab and support their endeavour of bringing more everyday services, greater accessibility and convenience to users in Southeast Asia,” said Invesco Team Leader and Senior Portfolio Manager Justin Leverenz in a statement.
This week has seen a lot of movement on the Grab investment front.
The company invested in its British counterpart Splyt. As part of the deal, in the coming year Grab users will be able to book rides beyond Southeast Asia via Splyt’s partner network.
Additionally, Apple confirmed this week that it has acquired Drive.ai, a struggling autonomous vehicle technology company. Grab Ventures had invested in Drive.ai.
In the past week, Invesco went through a major restructuring as 12 Portfolio Managers left the firm. It was related to the final close of the OpeenheimerFunds acquisition mentioned above.
Invesco is the sixth largest American retail investment manager and has US$1.2 trillion assets under management.