Go-Jek, a regional competitor of Grab's, has been ramping up its payments offerings. Major Indonesian ride-hailing service Go-Jek, which was recentlyat $10 billion, operates a digital payment service, Go-Pay, which offers money transfers, offline payments, insurance, and microloans and accounts for half of the payments on Go-Jek. And the firm has made several payments and commerce acquisitions over the past two years.
Meanwhile, Lyft is the most recent player to expand into payments, using financial services to retain its drivers. Lyft a no-fee bank account and debit card for drivers last week that offers tiered rewards on spending categories like gas and groceries.This move could feed into Grab's ambitions to build a"super app" that reaches almost all aspects of a user's life and would provide a promising growth opportunity for whichever payment company partners or invests in the firm.
Grab's significant presence across Southeast Asia opens a large volume opportunity for a payment firm to invest in Grab Financial Group. GrabPay is currently live in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, with plans to launch in Thailand. Several countries have initiatives to boost digital payments, which makes it an opportune time to establish a presence as digital payments begin to popularize.
Grab Financial Group would complement Grab's existing plans to build out its financial services.Grab recently"Grow with Grab," a road map outlining its plans for growth, including introducing small business lending and micro-insurance for drivers in Singapore. Other new services include micro-insurance products, installment payments services, and"Pay with GrabPay," an online checkout payment method for online sellers.