GrabTaxi eyeing growth and new services

 Vee Charununsiri, country head of Grab Taxi (Thailand) Co Ltd, said the company’s core service was booking taxis but it had introduced the following new services – GrabCar, premium chaffeur-driven rides; GrabXL, a 12-seater service; GrabBike, a motorbike taxi service; and GrabCar+.
“We started out as a taxi booking app but have now expanded to include cars, limos, motorbikes and delivery services. These were introduced because there were gaps in the market,” Vee said.
This year, the company’s focus is growth and expanding into new cities, boosting its workforce and introducing new services.
Its mission is to transform the way more than 620 million people move in Southeast Asia. Currently, the company has two services available in Thailand – GrabTaxi and GrabCar. Both are in the same mobile application, GrabTaxi app. It allows people to book a taxi, via GrabTaxi, and book a limo via GrabCar, through its mobile app.
“In Thailand, we are confident that the new service GrabCar will do well following a successful three-month beta trial. GrabCar was introduced because it is harder to get taxis during peak hours so the company is putting more cars on the road. We also know that commuters wanted more transport options besides taxis, a more premium and comfortable option,” Vee said.
GrabCar is a premium service that enables users to book a chauffeured-car such as a Camry, Teana, Accord, Fortuner, or a Mercedes Benz in its fleet via their smartphone.
GrabCar operates on the same mobile application platform as GrabTaxi, for customers to book taxis or chauffeured services in Bangkok.
The base fare of GrabCar starts at Bt75, with Bt12.5 per kilometre for the first 10 km and Bt13.5 per kilometre after that.
GrabCar has also introduced a one-way flat fee of Bt600 from any part of Bangkok to Suvarnabhumi airport.
Vee said the tremendous response to the company’s premium service GrabCar was the key factor behind the company launching GrabXL. But that service is still in the beta testing stage, while the company is recruiting drivers and forging partnerships.
“We only work with partners and fleets who possess the necessary licences and permits,” Vee said.
GrabXL is a premium 12-seater van service for those who appreciate the comfort and convenience offered by GrabCar but needed more legroom and car boot space. It is a complementary service to GrabTaxi and sits on the same GrabTaxi platform.
“According to the feedback, people requested bigger cars to be able to fit more people with the bigger legroom and car boot space. We hope to officially launch sometime this year,” Vee said.
GrabBike, meanwhile, is currently only available in Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam, while the GrabCar+ is a new limo service currently only available in the Philippines.
GrabTaxi started in 2012 but is now in 20 cities across six countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, |the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Currently it has 3.8 million downloads and more than 75,000 taxis, cars and motorbikes on its regional network. The group estimates there are seven bookings made through their app every second across the region
GrabTaxi managed to raise almost US$340 million (Bt11 billion) in just 14 months, to make it a forerunner in terms of funding and growth. Its backers are SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Hillhouse Capital Management, Silicon Valley-based GGV Capital, Qunar, Vertex Venture Holdings (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings in Singapore), and Angel investors.