Grab branches out again, this time launching an innovation arm

Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan (L) and Albert Lucius (R), co-founder and CEO of Kudo, a portfolio company of Grab Ventures / Photo credit: Grab

When a startup starts investing in other startups as a matter of course, it’s a good indication that it has reached the big time.

The world first heard about Grab Ventures – Grab’s new “innovation” arm – in March when its first incubation project, the bike-sharing platform GrabCycle, was unveiled.

Today, Grab Ventures got its official launch. Speaking at Innovfest Unbound 2018 in Singapore, Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan shared more details, discussing the unit and its objectives.

We’re looking at series B and above.

Tan said that Grab Ventures will follow a multifaceted strategy. On the one hand, it will develop technologies and build businesses in-house, as it did with GrabCycle.

It is also launching Velocity, an accelerator program for growth-stage startups. Inductees will be able to tap into Grab’s “expertise, technical resources, and networks.”

Another thrust for Grab Ventures is strategic collaboration and investments. It will seek to partner with eight to 10 startups over the next two years, with a focus on transport, food, logistics, and financial services.

Tan said, “We’re looking at series B and above, [startups expanding globally] out from the region we know so well.”

Grab CEO Anthony Tan launches Grab Ventures at Innovfest Unbound 2018 in Singapore / Photo credit: Grab

Singapore’s Economic Development Board and its investment arm, EDBI, are partnering with Velocity. Grab is also teaming up with the country’s Info-communications Media Development Authority and trade agency Enterprise SG to support startups with things like market access and regulatory matters.

Apart from GrabCycle, US self-driving startup Drive.ai, Indian mobile payments provider iKaaz, and Indonesian online transactions firm Kudo – which Grab acquired in April 2017 – are in the Grab Ventures portfolio.

Grab’s Indonesia-based rival Go-Jek is also rumored to be making the move into startup incubation and venture investing.