Grab said to raise $200m from Korea’s Stic Investments

Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab is said to be raising US$200 million from Stic Investments as the South Korean private equity firm aims to increase its exposure in Southeast Asia.

Photo credit: Grab

Stic will be investing US$100 million from one of its funds, while the remaining amount will come from co-investors, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the development.

Tech in Asia has reached out to Grab for a statement, but the startup declined to comment on the matter.

Founded in 1999, Stic engages in growth capital investments, buyouts, and secondary market transactions. According to its website, it invests in companies that have the potential for intrinsic growth, which are often willing to form partnerships with the Stic team.

Some of its investments include Korean entertainment giant YG Entertainment, Indian on-demand delivery and errand services platform Dunzo, and China’s Joyvio Group, the food and agribusiness arm of Legend Holdings.

Stic’s reported capital injection into Grab comes as the global ride-hailing segment strives to recover amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Grab, which was estimated to be valued at around US$14 billion last year, has already let go of 360 employees less than two months ago to cut back on spending.

Its regional rival Gojek took similar measures, laying off 430 employees, or roughly 9% of its total headcount.

The US$200 million top-up may help Grab bounce back and prepare for “a potentially long winter” ahead. “There is a lot of uncertainty as to the depth and duration of the pandemic, and we don’t know how long the economic recession will last,” a Grab spokesperson previously told Tech in Asia.

Grab had previously raised a total of nearly US$10 billion from investors such as SoftBank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Toyota, Experian, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs, among others.