SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery platform Grab Holdings lists on Nasdaq via the world’s largest special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal worth $40 billion.
Here are some milestones for the Singapore-headquartered company:
2011: Anthony Tan and co-founder Tan Hooi Ling create Grab in a Harvard Business School venture competition plan
2012: Launches as MyTeksi taxi booking service in Malaysia
2013: Expands to the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore as GrabTaxi
April 2014: Announces Series A funding
June 2014: Launches in Indonesia
December 2014: Japan’s SoftBank invests $250 million in a funding round
August 2015: Becomes a unicorn after $350 million funding round
December 2015: Announces a strategic partnership with other ride-hailing companies Ola, Didi, and Lyft that competed against Uber
January 2016: Rebrands to Grab from GrabTaxi to reflect expanding services
November 2017: Launches GrabPay payments service for third-party transactions
March 2018: Announces acquisition of Uber’s business in Southeast Asia through an all-share deal, Uber becomes a strategic shareholder
May 2018: Pilots GrabFood delivery service
July 2018: Unveils “superapp” strategy that provides a range of services under one platform
March 2019: Reaches valuation of about $14 billion
December 2020: Wins digital full bank license in Singapore in a partnership with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd
April 2021: Agrees to list on Nasdaq through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Altimeter Growth Corp securing a valuation of nearly $40 billion
(Compiled by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Editing by William Mallard)
