1. It’s been a long time coming
In July 2017, Grab completed an eighth round of fundraising, generating an estimated US$2.5 billion. The investment put Grab’s valuation at US$6 billion, making it Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup in the process.
The investment round was led by Chinese peer Didi Chuxing and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group. Given SoftBank’s pre-existing investment in Uber, a consolidation had been widely anticipated since last summer. Indeed, both parties assert that the deal was “driven independently” by both companies, with SoftBank playing a supportive role.