Anthony Tan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Grab, poses for a photograph in Singapore, on Monday, July 9, 2018.
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Southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab said Monday it will invest $2 billion into Indonesia over the next five years using funds from SoftBank Group.
The investment will be aimed at speeding up the development of Indonesia’s digital infrastructure. That includes building a next-generation transportation network around electric vehicles in local cities and improving the way important services, such as health care, are delivered in the country.
“Indonesia’s technology sector has huge potential,” Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said in a statement. “I’m very happy to be investing US$2 billion into the future of Indonesia through Grab.”
Singapore-based Grab said it will build a second headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In March, Grab said it had secured $1.46 billion in fresh funds from the SoftBank Vision Fund as part of an ongoing funding round, with investments from car makers Toyota and Hyundai Motor, as well as tech giant Microsoft, China’s Ping An Capital and U.S.-based asset management company OppenheimerFunds.
Grab said in June it had secured $300 million from investment management company Invesco. The startup, which is valued at $14 billion, plans to raise around $6.5 billion in total capital by the end of the year.
It started out with ride-hailing, but over time, Grab introduced other services including food and grocery delivery, mobile payment, and micro-lending to the unbanked or underbanked in Southeast Asia.
Grab executives have previously spoken about the importance of the Indonesian market to the company. The ride-hailing giant said on Monday it has invested over $1 billion into the country since 2017.
SoftBank and Grab did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comments.
