Grab and Gojek’s investors visualized on an interactive network graph

ABOUT

This chart is interactive. You can pan, zoom in and out, and view specific data points.

Southeast Asia’s super-app giants have been slugging it out in several verticals, from ride-hailing to food delivery to mobile wallets. They’ve also been competing to attract investors to fund their frenzied expansion plans.

This chart features the existing shareholders of Grab and Gojek. Even though the two companies have grown in scale, both are still in the red. Their financial backers are waiting for the day when these archrivals become profitable and enable investors to realize the value of their investments through a public listing.

At the same time, both firms have attracted a bevy of strategic investors who aren’t just in it for pure financial returns.

One such backer – Visa – is actually betting on both. After all, the growth potential of their core ride-hailing business is huge. While the number of ride-hailing users in Southeast Asia soared from 8 million active users in 2015 to 40 million in 2019, these consumers represented just 6% of the region’s population, according to a recent report from Google, Bain & Company, and Temasek.

More recently, Facebook and Paypal have jumped into the ring by investing in Gojek to boost their presence in Indonesia.

WHY IT MATTERS

The sheer growth potential of Grab and Gojek has catapulted the companies to dizzying valuations of US$14 billion and US$9.5 billion, respectively.

While that’s a remarkable achievement, it will be harder for both to justify such lofty numbers if they remain in the red.

With the general appetite for injecting fresh capital waning among venture capital and private equity firms amid the economic uncertainties brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s crucial for startups to show existing and would-be investors that they can minimize cash burn and reach profitability soon.

SOURCE

Data: Tech in Asia
Infographics: Ivan Tan
Analysis: Jonathan Burgos