If you want to get a ride someplace or get some food delivered, you might think of a company like Uber or Lyft. But in Southeast Asia, youʻd be looking for another name — which has exploded in popularity.
In the United States, two companies dominate the ride-hailing business. According to the research firm YipitData, Uber controls about three-quarters of the market, and Lyft has most of the rest of it.
But in Southeast Asia, if you want to connect to get a ride or some food, you are likely to look for Grab. That is the name of the dominant player in the space in that part of the world.
The Singapore-based company recently came out with its quarterly results and shocked the market with earnings that were more than a third higher than analysts expected. It also raised profit expectations for the full year based on strong demand.
Grab operates in more than 700 cities in Southeast Asia — from Bangkok to Banda Aceh, and Mandalay to Hanoi.
For investors, the stock of Grab has been a far bumpier ride. The company went public with a splashy Wall Street debut about three years ago. Since then, the stock has been down about 60%, although it has been climbing this year.
As for the future, there is competition, notably an Indonesian start-up called GoTo.
But for now, Grab is projecting continued growth — along with an unusual feature for some technology start-ups. It just reported a profit for only the second time in the company's history.
