Analysis: Grab books $200m

Travel and accommodation reservation platform Booking Holdings, formerly known as Priceline, invested $200m in Singapore-based ride and mobile services provider Grab as part of a strategic partnership. The latter enables Booking to offer Grab’s services through its apps, while Grab customers will be able to book accommodation on Booking.com and Agoda.  The funding is reportedly part of a large round Grab is currently raising, which had reached $2bn in August. Grab already received backing from car manufacturer Toyota, which provided the first $1bn, as well as, subsequently by Ping An Capital, a subsidiary of insurance firm Ping An, and Mirae Asset – Naver Asia Growth Fund, a joint venture for internet company Naver and investment bank Mirae Asset Daewoo.

Founded in 2012 as GrabTaxi, Grab operates an on-demand ride service as well as food, package and shopping delivery across various cities in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

As the GCV Analytics chart here suggests, the company has so far raised over $6bn of capital in corporate-backed rounds. This latest $200m tranche is indicative of the possible synergies between ride hailing and transport businesses with the broader tourism sector. Ming Maa, president of Grab, said: “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.”