GoTo vs. Grab: How different are their fintech strategies?

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IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• Whether Grab and GoTo’s fintech strategies are diverging
• Airwallex and other fintech players targeting the fast-growing B2B payments sector
• A rare fintech firm that checks the growth, scale, and profitability boxes

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Hey there,

The rivalry between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo is one of the most well-known in the corporate world, even as their businesses have diverged over time.

While Coca-Cola has remained a beverage company (albeit with over 200 brands worldwide), PepsiCo’s beverage business accounted for only 42% of its 2022 revenue – with the rest coming from food.

Grab and Gojek’s rivalry is less storied, but both companies’ paths are also starting to diverge.

Ride-hailing and food delivery remain the bedrock of their businesses. However, Gojek’s 2021 merger with Tokopedia means that GoTo Group has more exposure to ecommerce compared to its Singapore-based competitor.

Financial services is an area that both GoTo and Grab are focused on, with the two firms running digital banks on top of what they offer on their respective apps.

However, as my colleague Samreen notes in this week’s big story, they have different approaches to their fintech strategies.

For example, while Grab prioritizes “on-platform” transactions, GoTo continues to promote payments outside of its ecosystem.

GoTo also appears to be taking a more aggressive approach to launching new products, even as Grab has shut less viable ones like GrabInvest.

Yet, one should not overstate their differences. At the core of GoTo and Grab’s fintech strategies is a focus on lending. They are also both targeting underserved and unserved consumers.

This focus on the underserved segment carries through to the B2B payments space, where players such as Airwallex and Sunrate have managed to build fast-growing businesses by focusing on neglected SMEs. I take a closer look at this sector in this week’s Hot Take.

— Simon

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THE BIG STORY

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THE HOT TAKE

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NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

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FYI

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