GrabTaxi raises US$65m in Series C funds
It plans to hire top engineers, coders and data scientists, and set up driver retention programmes
Singapore
THE ride continues for Singapore taxi-booking app GrabTaxi as it announced on Tuesday its third and biggest round of funding, and its ambition to build the largest taxi network here in the next six months.
Believed to be a whopping US$65 million, GrabTaxi's Series C sum - one of the largest in South-east Asia - takes funding raised this year to US$90 million. It bagged in May US$15 million in Series B, and in April, an "eight-figure" in Series A.
The latest round was led by US firm Tiger Global, with participation from fellow new investor China-based HillHouse Capital and existing investors Vertex Venture Holdings, GGV Capital and Qunar.
GrabTaxi, with over 400,000 active monthly users in over 17 cities in six South-east Asian countries, has seen more than 2.1 million app downloads since its founding in 2012. It said that two bookings are made every second through its platform, and in Singapore, over 960,000 rides take place in a day.
When asked why the need for such progressive funding, GrabTaxi said: "We continue to invest in our growth and dominance in markets we operate in - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - and further establish our industry leading position."
To do this, it said that it would channel funds into hiring top engineers, coders and data scientists to customise new features for different cities, and setting up driver retention programmes to reward existing drivers - because "by improving the lives of drivers, the positive effects will naturally cascade down to passengers".
For instance, it will go to the extent of banning "bad" passengers (eg passengers who are frequent "no-shows"), so as to give its drivers the peace of mind that whenever they accept a GrabTaxi job, there will be a passenger waiting.
On the other hand, GrabTaxi passengers can look forward to improved speed in getting a taxi and an enhanced overall user experience.
In November, GrabTaxi is staging a nationwide roadshow to introduce new drivers to its service, as well as thank its current drivers, who will receive over S$100 in cash, credits and giveaways.
On the startup's US$65 million investment, Vinnie Lauria, founding partner of venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures, said: "Really great to hear . . . Tiger Global is quite an active investor in the region. While a lot of money, it demonstrates how much value there is in the taxi-booking industry in this region. It will help beef GrabTaxi against its well-funded competitor, Uber, and even Rocket Internet's Easy Taxi."
San Francisco-based Uber has raised some US$1.5 billion since 2010, while Brazil's Easy Taxi has since 2011 secured US$77 million, a sum lower than GrabTaxi's US$90 million despite four rounds of financing and an additional year of operation.
"While GrabTaxi understands the local market best, Uber's simple automatic payments system from within the app will pose the biggest challenge to GrabTaxi," said Mr Lauria.
He added: "This is also great news for the startup scene, as it further demonstrates that incredible value is coming out of South-east Asia . . . I'm excited to see other companies raise more than US$50 million in 2015."
Notable Series C rounds include Singapore-headquartered travel portal Wego's US$17 million in June 2013, and US-based messaging app Snapchat's US$50 million last December.
