Grab hails $2 bn funding deal as it takes new roads 

Major investor Toyota Motor Corporation was joined by a slate of leading global financial institutions, including Oppenheimer Funds, Ping An Capital, Mirae Asset - Naver Asia Growth Fund and underscoring Grab’s aim to be the leading technology player in the region. Other financial investors included Cinda Sino-Rock Investment Management Company, All-Stars Investment, Vulcan Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Macquarie Capital.
The investment by these leading global financial institutions was a reflection of their belief in Grab’s long-term growth opportunity, according to a media release from Grab, along with the company’s ability to unlock the region’s growth potential through its industry-changing O2O and transportation platform.
Ming Maa, president of Grab, said: “We are honoured to welcome these top-tier financial institutions into our roster of strategic investors and partners. Grab is today the industry-changing O2O platform that enables millions of consumers and entrepreneurs to come online and drive the digital economy in Southeast Asia. We have seen overwhelming interest from global strategic investors and partners who are keen to partner with us to capture the region’s booming growth.”
Grab will use the funds to expand the range of O2O services it provides in Southeast Asia as it seeks to grow into the “everyday super app of choice for million in the region,” said the release.
Through its partnerships, Grab can now offer users a one-stop solution for some of their key daily needs, including the GrabPay app to pay merchants, GrabFood for ordering food, GrabExpress for sending parcels and Grab’s range of transport services to hail rides. 
In July, Grab launched its vision to become the region’s everyday super app of choice through an open platform strategy. It also announced the launch of GrabFresh, an on-demand grocery delivery service in Jakarta, Indonesia with other cities to follow later in 2018.
In particular, Grab will use a significant portion of the proceeds from the current fundraising to continue investing in Indonesia, where it is the industry-changing on-demand transport booking company. Grab has over 7.1 million micro-entrepreneurs on its platform, more than half of them residing in Indonesia.
 Through Grab’s partnership with 
local wallet and rewards programme, OVO, Grab has formed that country’s 
most widely accepted mobile payments ecosystem, with more than 60 million downloads.
GrabFood has grown exponentially this year, expanding from Jakarta to serve 28 cities and towns across Indonesia, winning significant market share with gross merchandise vValue (GMV) in Indonesia almost quadrupling in the first half of 2018. Similarly, GrabExpress GMV in Indonesia has more than doubled in the first half of 2018.