Grab enters travel market in new partnership with Booking

Under the partnership, Booking Holdings will offer Grab on-demand transport services through its apps, while Grab customers will be able to book hotels across the globe under Booking.com and Agoda. 
Booking Holdings has also invested US$200 million (Bt6.6 billion) in Grab, recognizing it as a leading online-to-offline (O2O) mobile platform in Southeast Asia. Grab has raised over $2 billion for its current round of financing and is on track to raise over $3 billion by the end of this year. 
“Grab has scaled impressively across Southeast Asia over the last few years, establishing itself as a recognised leader in an increasingly competitive space, and we’re excited to partner with them to build even better travel experiences through technology,” Todd Henrich, senior vice president and chief of corporate development for Booking Holdings, said. 
This partnership will allow Grab users to book travel-related services through the Grab app and pay seamlessly using the region’s leading digital wallet, GrabPay. This venture also highlights Grab’s aim to become Southeast Asia’s leading everyday super app, offering ride-hailing, food delivery, parcel delivery and digital payment options to million in the region. Grab is available in 235 cities in eight countries, and has empowered some 8 million micro-entrepreneurs through its platform. 
“We are delighted to work with Booking Holdings to give our users even more everyday services to choose from when they open the Grab app. The online travel market in Southeast Asia is set to nearly triple by 2025 and we see numerous synergies between travel and transportation that will allow us to capitalise on this huge opportunity. Booking’s investment in Grab is a vote of confidence in our continued ability to execute and expand into different O2O verticals and roll them out across the 235 cities in which we operate,” Ming Maa, president of Grab, said.