Grab continues to grow after taking over Uber's Southeast Asian business earlier this year. The ride-hailing company and SoftBank are reportedly in talks over a new investment amounting to $500 million, which Reuters reports will likely be finalized in the coming weeks.
That investment accounts for only half of the total funding Grab is seeking as part of its latest round of financing, according to the news agency. The ride-hailing service's total funding has reached $6 billion today, courtesy of funding rounds led by SoftBank, China's Didi Chuxing, and Toyota Motor Corp. Grab's market value is now at approximately $11 billion following its latest funding round.
SoftBank's planned investment is expected to help accelerate Grab's ambition to expand beyond ride-hailing into other services including food and parcel deliveries, mobile payments, electronic money transfers, and micro-financing.
Besides Grab, SoftBank was also reportedly discussing a potential purchase of Uber shares for less than 30% of the company's market value in November last year. Toyota, another major investor of Grab, also made strategic investments in Uber in 2016.
With Grab's app commanding more than 109 million downloads and over 2 billion rides today, SoftBank's reported plan to invest further in the company is naturally seen as a major boost to its goal of expanding in Southeast Asia.
