The ride-hailing market is in full swing.
According to people who familiar with the matter, Alibaba Group is in talks and plans to invest USD 3 billion in Grab, a Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant. Alibaba declined to comment.
The Chinese e-commerce giant is the only investor in this round, and it will acquire some Grab stocks held by Uber Technologies Inc. This transaction may be one of Alibaba's most massive bets in Southeast Asia since its first investment in Lazada in 2016. Alibaba's previous attempts in the online ride-hailing field are limited. However, through the potential cooperation with Grab, the company will gain access to data from millions of users in eight countries with a growing team and take a share in the field of digital wallets and financial services.
Previously, Grab established a joint venture with ZhongAn Insurance to enter the insurance market, and subsequently acquired Bento, which expanded rapidly in the financial sector. In February 2020, Grab announced that it had raised USD 856 million, which will be mainly used for the development of payment and financial services.