Grab to stay focused on 'massive' ASEAN growth after US listing: CEO

Original article from Nikkei Asia

Dated: 14 April 2021

Singapore’s tech unicorn Grab will remain focused on Southeast Asian markets even after it goes public in the U.S., co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan told Nikkei, citing “massive” room for growth in a region that has drawn attention from international investors.

Noting that investors describe Southeast Asia’s most valuable unlisted company as a combination of tech names like Uber Technologies and Ant Financial, Tan stressed Grab will scale up its existing core businesses such as food delivery and digital finance.

“We are going to be focused on the region,” he said in an online interview Tuesday, the same day Grab announced it will go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Tan added the company will use the capital “to build the lowest cost and the most efficient delivery network” by investing in maps and other technology as well as “to revolutionize mobile payments, financial services and digital banking.”

Through the SPAC, Grab will merge with Nasdaq-listed Altimeter Growth Corp., which was set up under the U.S.-based Altimeter Capital, in coming months. The listing is expected to value Grab at $39.6 billion and will provide as much as $4.5 billion for the company.

Grab won a digital banking license in Singapore last year and expects to start services early next year.

“We’re really going to keep building on [digital banking] and make it very scalable,” Tan said.