Grab Talks To Ant, PayPal About Spinning Out FinTech Unit

Grab, the ride-hailing startup, is in discussions with Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Alibaba and PayPal, about spinning out Grab Financial Group.

According to a report citing two sources with knowledge of the talks, Grab Financial Group, which is home to GrabPay, the digital payment service that also sells insurance and provides loans, will be spun out as an independent business. Grab is in talks with Ant and PayPal about the two making strategic investments in Grab Financial Group, according to the report.  For Ant Financial it would make sense to invest in the FinTech arm of Grab because it is expanding into Southeast Asia. In 2018 Grab purchased Uber’s Southeast Asia business.  Reports say a deal to spin out the unit could happen this year.

Grab, which started out as a ride-hailing service, has expanded into different markets as it aims to be an app that people use for different aspects of their daily lives. It recently raised $4.5 billion in a venture funding raising round led by Softbank’s Vision Tech Fund and announced SME lending and micro-insurance for drivers in Singapore as part of its “Grow with Grab” roadmap. In a press release earlier in March, Grab said its “Grow with Grab” roadmap is aimed at providing financial services to micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses in Southeast Asia. It includes new services such as micro-insurance products, postpaid and installment payment services and “Pay with GrabPay,” which is an eCommerce checkout payment method for online sellers that allows them to accept GrabPay as a mobile wallet on their website or platform.  Grab Financial’s goal is to become the region’s largest payments and financial services platform in 2019. It is also aiming to operate one of the largest merchant networks and become the largest insurtech policy provider within one platform.

While Grab is still the leading player in the ride-hailing market in Southeast Asia, it is facing intense competition from the likes of Go-Jek, which has the backing of Google, Tencent, and Temasek. Go-Jek has entered the Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand markets in the past six months, encroaching on Grab.