Alibaba interested to invest in Grab. The leading e-commerce company of China Alibaba (BABA) also known as Chinese e-commerce giant is in early stages of talks to invest in Grab.
You might be not familiar with the Grab, so for a short introduction I would like to tell you that Grab is the the main ride-hailing app provider in Southeast Asia.
Our most reliable sources say that the talks between both the companies are just in beginning stage so we are unaware of the plans of the e-commerce giants that how much amount it is going to invest in Grab.
How the amount invested in Grab would value the ride-hailing startup? Still no answer available.
For further information it is worth mentioning that Grab does also count Japan’s SoftBank as an investor.
TechCrunch has noted that the startup most recently was valued at $6 billion and during the last summer Alibaba and Grab held fruitless talks about an investment.
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Previously, the talks was fruitless because Alibaba was more focused on investing in Tokopedia (Indonesian e-commerce startup).
The online retailer of China called on ally SoftBank, which also has an ownership of a stake in Tokopedia to help it beat out rival Tencent, which was also vying for that very deal. TechCrunch has also stated one of SoftBank’s conditions that Alibaba will also invest in Grab. So, as a result Alibaba could manage a $1.1 billion investment in the company in August.
Last summer Alibaba also increased its stake in Lazada Group which is an e-commerce company that is based in Southeast Asia.
Grab’s plans to buy out Uber in the region urged Alibaba to start talks with the startup for investing there. Grab’s deal is being looked at by the Competition Commission of Singapore over concerns it could run afoul of antitrust laws in Singapore.
It is also being reported that other countries are also looking into the transactions, and several of them think SoftBank was the behind-the-scenes force driving the Grab and Uber deal. With that transaction on the way to come, an investment in Grab by Alibaba could be followed.
