Grab to Invest $250m in Indonesian Start-Ups
Jakarta. Ride-hailing company Grab announced on Wednesday (29/08) that it has set aside Rp 3 trillion ($250 million) to invest in Indonesian start-ups through its newly launched investment arm, Grab Ventures.
Grab Ventures will help Indonesian start-ups grow with mentorship, strategic investment, access to the market and technology.
Grab, which is interested in investing in logistics, food, fintech and other O2O start-ups, will later integrate them into its own ecosystem.
Grab Ventures is part of Grab 4 Indonesia Master Plan, aiming to support the country in becoming the largest digital economy in the region by 2020. A similar initiative was launched by the company in Singapore in June.
Grab also launched Grab Ventures Velocity to help start-ups scale up their businesses and make them ready to expand at the regional market.
The program is organized in partnership with the Ministry of Communications, Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), Amazon Web Services, Telkom Indonesia and venture capital firm MDI Ventures.
"We are glad to partner with Grab, which offers its regional networks, expertise and platform to the start-up community in Indonesia," Bekraf head Triawan Munaf said in a statement.
Grab managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata said the company is the country's top ride-hailing player, being present in 137 cities, compared with Go-Jek, which is available only in 50.
In early August, Grab raised $2 billion in funding from automotive giant Toyota and investment firms such as Vulcan Capital, Ping An Capital and All-Stars Investment to expand its on-demand services.
Recently, the company has acquired the operations of Uber in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand). Uber now holds a 27.5 percent stake in Grab and its chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, joined Grab's board of directors.
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