Singapore: Toyota invests US$ 1 billion in Grab taxi

Toyota is investing US$ 1 billion in Singapore-based taxi hailing service Grab. As part of the agreement between the two companies, one executive from Toyota will join Grab's board of directors and a Toyota executive will be placed as a full-time executive officer in the start-up.

After this fundraising, Grab has been valued at US$ 10 billion. Toyota's investment is expected be used to expand its food delivery services and the mobile payment platform in South East Asia.

The investment by Toyota is the highest so far by any automaker in any ride-hailing venture. The carmaker is expected to share technologies with Grab, including the one that predicts when a vehicle needs maintenance, driving data based automobile insurance, financial services for Grab drivers and vehicle after sales service.

Grab is not the only such company in which the Japanese carmaker has invested. Back in 2016, it had also invested in Uber.

Grab bought rival Uber's food delivery business in the region last year. Other companies that have invested in Grab include Honda, Hyundai and Toyota's investment arm.