Grab is gradually becoming a real threat to Uber in ride-sharing market in Southeast Asian. The company now runs business in 87 cities across seven countries, and just newly got an investment from Toyota which will see the two companies team up on research.
Toyota will invest an undisclosed amount as part of Grab’s Series G funding round. Grab plans to raise $2.5 billion, and has already got $2 billion from SoftBank and Didi Chuxing, Uber’s onetime Chinese rival. But the deal with Toyota includes more than just a promise of cash.
Grab will also share data with Toyota on the driving patterns of 100 Toyota cars in its fleet. The data will be analyzed by Toyota and used to improve the automaker’s services, as well as Grab’s own app platform, Grab said. Toyota is getting more aggressive in tech investments, recently starting an investment to focus on autonomous driving, AI, and other important areas.
Toyota isn’t the first automaker build partnership with Grab. Honda also invested an undisclosed amount last year. At that time, Grab said the two companies were working closely on motorcycles.
As Uber is going to get a relief from a series of scandals under a new CEO, the company is losing market shares abroad. Last year, the American company sold its Chinese operations to its rival Didi Chuxing, and recently it also had to agree to merge its Russian operations with local firm Yandex. Could Grab force a similar withdrawal from Southeast Asia?
