Grab funding from Indonesia’s Lippo Group confirmed

Grab CEO Antony Tan (left) and Lippo director John Riady. Photo credit: Grab

Grab, the on-demand ride app for Southeast Asia, this morning announced a strategic partnership with Indonesia’s Lippo Group. The huge conglomerate owns, among other things, shopping malls and runs ecommerce venture Matahari Mall. It plans to make use of Grab’s “transport and deliveries expertise,” according to a press release.

The partnership, it turns out, did not start today. Lippo Group director John Riady confirmed to Tech in Asia through a text message that Lippo is an early investor in Grab. There’s no mention of that in today’s announcement.

It’s a major rival to Uber across six Southeast Asian nations.

Riady also said that Jakarta-based Venturra Capital has a stake in Grab. Lippo Group is a backer of the US$150 million Southeast Asia fund.

Grab, which hails from Malaysia, is a major rival to Uber across six Southeast Asian nations. In Indonesia the startup offers rides in regulated cabs, private cars, and on motorbike taxis.

This investment was previously kept secret, possibly because of Grab’s still pending legal status in Indonesia, which now seems to be resolved.

War of numbers

In the same release, Grab makes bold claims about the strength of its performance in Indonesia.

It says that Grabcar, which is like UberX, has more than 50 percent market share in the private rides market – implying that it now beats Uber in the number of rides booked in Indonesia. This milestone, it says, was achieved by the end of 2015.

The second claim is that Grab this month “exceeded 50 per cent of the motorcycle taxi market share in Indonesia” – implying it is gaining an advantage over arch-rival Go-Jek, an Indonesian startup that specializes in two-wheelers.

Grab this month offered free motorbike rides to new customers, and its price for short distance rides is lower that Go-Jek’s.

However, Grab declined to back its statement with hard numbers, saying only that it’s based on the number of rides booked, not the number of drivers and that the insight was gleaned through “internal data and analysis.”