Grab confirms $1.46B investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund

Grab has become the newest addition to the SoftBank Vision Fund after it announced today that it has pulled in a $1.46 billion investment from the super fund. Grab said the new money will be used to further its super app strategy, which is aimed at making its service a daily app for Southeast Asian consumers, but it is also likely to be used to battle rival Go-Jek.

The deal — which was first reported by TechCrunch in December — takes Grab’s ongoing Series H round to $4.5 billion. Other investors in that round include Toyota, Booking Holdings, Microsoft and Hyundai. The new deal means Grab has now raised over $7.5 billion to date. Grab was last valued at $11 billion when it secured a $1 billion investment from Toyota to kick off this Series H in June, but that valuation is likely to have increased significantly since then. Update: A source told TechCrunch that the new round values Grab at $14 billion.

Despite this huge injection, Grab confirmed that the round — a record for a Southeast Asian startup — is not closed yet. TechCrunch reported in December that the Series H funding goal, which was originally $2 billion, had been raised to $5 billion.

The Vision Fund deal has been months in the making. SoftBank is an existing investor in Grab and, as had already happened with Coupang and Tokopedia, it is transitioning its stake into the Vision Fund while dropping in additional investment capital as well.

“We have been working alongside Grab for a number of years and are privileged to support the evolution of its user-driven technologies. This investment will help the company explore exciting new opportunities across on-demand mobility, delivery and financial services as it continues to grow its offline-to-online platform across Southeast Asia,” said SoftBank’s David Thevenon in a statement.

Beyond ride-hailing, Grab also operates payments and food delivery businesses. Last year, it began working with third-party partners to bring additional services into the Grab, some of those partners include streaming service Hooq, Ping An Good Doctor and grocery delivery company HappyFresh.

Grab’s news today comes just a day after Go-Jek announced a $100 million injection into its ongoing Series H fund, which sources have told TechCrunch is aimed at raising $2 billion. The company, which is expanding in Southeast Asia, said it closed $1 billion from existing investors in January.

Go-Jek originated in Indonesia but, over the past six months, it has expanded into Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore with the Philippines also in its plans.