Grab
IPORaised Since FeaturedThe Everyday Everything App
Southeast Asia's leading super-app providing ride-hailing, food delivery, digital payments, and financial services across 8 countries and 700+ cities.
About
Grab Holdings is Southeast Asia's first decacorn and the region's most comprehensive super-app platform. Founded in June 2012 as MyTeksi by Harvard Business School classmates Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling in Kuala Lumpur, the company initially aimed to make taxi rides safer in Malaysia. After winning a startup contest at Harvard that awarded them $25,000 in seed funding, the duo launched the mobile application from a small room in Kuala Lumpur. By 2016, the company rebranded as Grab and relocated its headquarters to Singapore, expanding rapidly across Southeast Asia. The platform evolved from a simple ride-hailing service into a super-app ecosystem integrating mobility, food and grocery delivery, digital payments, financial services (including lending, BNPL, and digital banking via GXBank), logistics, and advertising—all through a single consumer interface. Today, Grab operates across eight countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), serving over 700 cities with 50.5 million monthly transacting users. The company went public on December 1, 2021, through a record-breaking SPAC merger at nearly $40 billion valuation. Now trading on NASDAQ under the ticker GRAB, the company achieved its first full year of profitability in 2025, with revenues reaching approximately $3.4 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $500 million.
DailyDropout Take
Grab represents the ultimate early-stage success story: a Harvard startup competition winner that grew into Southeast Asia's dominant super-app and achieved a NASDAQ IPO. With 50M+ monthly users across 8 countries and its first profitable year in 2025, Grab demonstrates how ride-hailing can be a wedge into a massive multi-vertical platform.
Discovery signal: Harvard startup competition winner, early SoftBank backing, rapid expansion across Southeast Asia
What Makes Them Unique
Grab's super-app ecosystem creates powerful cross-selling network effects—multi-service users spend 4x more and transact 2x as often. At 3-3.5x the scale of its nearest regional competitor, Grab leverages massive transaction data for credit underwriting and financial services to the unbanked, with 90% of its digital bank (GXBank) customers acquired at zero cost from existing users.
~$3.4B
Revenue (2025)
~$500M
Adjusted EBITDA (2025)
50.5M
Monthly Transacting Users
$22.1B
On-Demand GMV (2025)
8
Countries
700+
Cities
Target Markets
Founders
Anthony Tan
Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman
Malaysian-Singaporean entrepreneur who conceived Grab while attending Harvard Business School. Coming from a family that ran one of Malaysia's largest automotive distribution businesses, Tan saw the challenges of Southeast Asia's transportation ecosystem firsthand. He partnered with classmate Tan Hooi Ling and won a Harvard startup competition, securing $25,000 in seed funding. Has led Grab from a small room in KL to Southeast Asia's largest super-app.
Tan Hooi Ling
Co-Founder (Advisor since 2023, formerly COO)
Met Anthony Tan at Harvard Business School, where she had been sponsored by McKinsey & Company for her MBA. She served as COO focusing on product development, HR, and customer experience, playing a key role in scaling Grab's operations. Transitioned to an advisory role at the end of 2023.
Key People
Previously: LegalZoom (CFO)
Previously: SATS Ltd (CEO)
Previously: Internal promotion (Oct 2022)
Grab is hiring!
Team size: ~11,000
Funding History
Lead: Vertex Venture Holdings
Lead: GGV Capital
Lead: Tiger Global Management
Lead: SoftBank
Lead: SoftBank
Lead: SoftBank Vision Fund
Valuation: ~$40B
Lead: Altimeter Capital
Investors
Firms
Press & News
Grab to Acquire Chinese Firm Infermove to Expand in AI Robotics
This 42-year-old built a $2 billion a year super app called Grab
Grab IPO plunges 21% in biggest US debut by a Southeast Asian company
Southeast Asia's Grab lands $1B from Toyota at a $10B valuation