Grab shows it's more than just a ride-hailing platform

Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading technology company recorded three fold of growth last year to 45 million downloads and up to 2.5 million daily rides.

Grab, which celebrated its fifth anniversary yesterday also announced that the Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing platform has added a new service to digitise street hailing called “GrabNow’ and the expansion of its telematics programme and in-app messaging feature ‘GrabChat’.

“Grab’s business is evolving, we have not only re-defined what people traditionally think ride-hailing is, but are building a consumer platform that focuses on the important everyday services - transport and mobile payment," said Group CEO and Co-founder Anthony Tan.

But above all, the company announced a ground breaking finding through “Moving SEA Together’ report which showcases the company’s tremendous growth and impact on lives in Southeast Asia.

The report shows that on average, Grab’s commuters reach their destination in less than half the time compared to public transport options.

In Malaysia, Grab users experience 53 percent less travel time compared those taking public transport.

Grab drivers in Malaysia also earn 48 percent higher than the average workers wage.

This makes a huge number of drivers coming on-board as no surprise. Currently, nearly one million drivers now rely on Grab platform for income to their families, with the number of drivers growing 340 percent since 2013 throughout all Grab’s market.

For Malaysia, there is a 176 per cent growth in drivers compared to last year.

The report also stated that Grab’s carpooling initiatives has been successful, helping to enhance the efficiency of the transport network.

Grab’s carpooling features, ‘GrabShare’ and ‘GrabHitch’ have helped to save almost 3.2 million kilograms in carbon emission every year. This is equivalent to the amount of CO2 emitted by desk lights for 9,268 users in a year.

The company, started as MyTeksi in June 2012 in Malaysia and later made Singapore as headquarter, now present in 55 cities,

It renamed its company as ‘Grab’ on Januari 28, last year.