Is Grab too late to Indonesia’s banking game?

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Hello reader,

While I’m a fairly casual European football fan now, I used to be pretty hardcore. Back in the 2000s, I could name at least the starting lineup of every team in the Premier League, even the newly promoted ones.

But my interest started to wane when crazy money started to pour into the sport. It started with Chelsea in 2003 and then Manchester City in 2008. The transfer figures started to become ridiculous, and I started tuning out.

Still, regardless of how they did it, Chelsea and Manchester City have successfully caught up with – and overtaken – old giants like Manchester United and Arsenal, with Liverpool only coming to life again relatively recently. (Bear in mind that I’m thinking in terms of decades, so please don’t get on my case, Liverpool fans.)

Today’s premium article is about Grab’s plans to roll out its digibank in Indonesia in 2023 – a plan that will see it enter the game late, with fellow tech giants like GoTo and Sea as well as smaller players like Akulaku having already established footholds in the country.

Can Grab succeed like Chelsea and Manchester City?

Today we look at:

• The opportunities and challenges that Grab’s digibank will face in Indonesia
• A Singapore-based 3D printing solutions startup bagging US$10 million
• Other newsy highlights such as Alipay losing its high-priority status in Shanghai and Microsoft’s potential interest in participating in a US$100 million funding round for an Indian gaming platform

Premium summary

Better late than never for Grab’s digibank?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

I have this habit of not watching the latest, hottest movies or television shows. I just don’t like to be disappointed, so I tend to watch programs that have long finished and are guaranteed to be good.

For example, I watched the 2002 Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs for the first time just last year. Another example – I only got around to watching the original Predator film (which came out in 1987) just a couple of years ago.

In that sense, being late can be great. But will that logic hold for Grab’s digibank rollout in Indonesia?

What if we could 3D print money?

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