GrabTaxi to invest US$100m in Singapore R&D centre

Singapore

MOBILE phone transport app GrabTaxi, or MyTeksi as it is known in its native Malaysia, will invest US$100 million over a few years in its first research and development (R&D) centre in Singapore to sharpen its offerings.

At the opening of the centre on Wednesday, GrabTaxi said the bulk of the investment will go into attracting global talent to the company and into a mobile application that assigns available cabs nearby to commuters using mapping and location-sharing technology.

The 4,500 sq ft technology centre, located in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District in Cecil Street, will house most of its technical staff and engineers from around the world.

Headed by chief technology officer Wei Zhu, who used to head the Facebook engineering team that developed Facebook Connect, the centre will eventually house 200 engineers and data scientists focusing on analysing data and spotting trends from multiple data sources.

GrabTaxi said: "This US$100 million investment over a few years is a milestone for South-east Asian startups, as very few brands - local or regional - have made such a significant investment in technology infrastructure and talent based out of Singapore."

Having raised more than US$340 million in funding last year from investors, including a US$250 million injection from SoftBank, GrabTaxi recently hired senior talent from companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Palantir Technologies.

Group chief executive officer Anthony Tan said Singapore was a logical choice for its hub on the basis of the island's strong infrastructure and conducive business environment "to build and develop this global pool of talent".

Support from Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) in bringing the R&D centre to Singapore also helped.

Mr Tan said: "Though we remain focused on South-east Asia, we know that talent is global. This new R&D centre has put on us a level playing field with the largest technology companies in the world."

The grandson of a Malaysian auto tycoon and son of Tan Heng Chew of Tan Chong Motor Holdings, Nissan Motor's sole distributor in Malaysia, the younger Tan founded GrabTaxi and launched it as MyTeksi in Malaysia in June 2012.

Like its San Francisco-based rival, Uber Technologies Inc, the free smartphone app enables passengers to book a cab through any taxi company, regardless of location, and gives information on the route and fare. The app is used in 20 cities in Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The GrabTaxi app has had more than 3.8 million downloads and more than 75,000 vehicles under its network across the region.

GrabTaxi also claims that more than seven bookings are made every second using its app.

Mr Tan has been cited in news reports as having predicted that the demand for mobile apps will continue to grow in South-east Asia, in tandem with the growth in smartphone usage.

Under 6 per cent of taxi rides are booked through mobile apps in Singapore, higher than in the Philippines and Indonesia, where it is under 2 per cent. But these figures are low compared to 24 per cent in Shanghai and 28 per cent in Tokyo.