Booking Holdings is investing $200 million in and creating a
strategic partnership with Grab Holdings, a Singapore-based on-demand
transportation platform that operates in 235 cities in eight countries across
Southeast Asia.
Grab has raised more than $2 billion for its current round
of financing - including $1 billion from Toyota that came in June - and is on
track to raise over $3 billion by the end of this year. In March, Grab bought
Uber’s business in Southeast Asia, although that deal is being challenged by
regulators in Singapore.
As part of this deal, Bookings Holdings’ brands will be able
to offer on-demand transportation services through its apps, powered by Grab.
And the Grab app will now offer users the ability to book accommodations across
the globe via Booking.com and Agoda and to pay using the GrabPay digital
wallet.
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"Grab has scaled impressively across Southeast Asia
over the last few years, establishing itself as a recognized leader in an
increasingly competitive space, and we're excited to partner with them to build
even better travel experiences through technology,” says Todd Henrich, senior
vice president and head of corporate development for Booking Holdings.
This deal comes three months after Booking invested $500
million in China-based ground transportation company Didi Chuxing.
In addition to ride-hailing, Grab offers food and package
delivery, mobile payments and financial services. It currently operates in
Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
"We are delighted to work with Booking Holdings to give
our users even more everyday services to choose from when they open the Grab
app,” says Ming Maa, president of Grab.
“The online travel market in Southeast Asia is set to nearly
triple by 2025, and we see numerous synergies between travel and transportation
that will allow us to capitalize on this huge opportunity. As a global travel
leader, Booking's investment into Grab is a vote of confidence in our continued
ability to execute and expand into different O2O [online-to-offline] verticals
and roll them out across the 235 cities in which we operate."
REGISTER NOW! Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, Ctrip, MakeMyTrip and others speak at The Phocuswright Conference 2018
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