Southeast Asian tech giant, Grab, has commented that the Covid-19 pandemic is creating significant challenges for the company, requiring it to make difficult decisions to cut costs and manage capital. The company, which started out as a taxi-booking startup before evolving into a “super app”, has seen the demand for its core business collapse as countries go into lockdown to fight the coronavirus.

“Covid-19 is the single biggest crisis to affect Grab in the eight years of our existence. It has had an unprecedented impact on our operations, our business, and the livelihoods of our partners,” said the chief executive officer of Grab, Anthony Tan.

Tan further elaborated that the company will be forced to take tough decisions and trade-offs as it evaluates the pandemic’s impact on its business. “We will right-size our costs, manage our capital efficiently, and make the necessary operational adjustments in order to weather the storm and carve out a path to profitability,” he said.

Following its early days, Grab has since expanded into other services, such as food and parcel deliveries,  insurance, and finance. As of now, it depends primarily on its food delivery services to counter some of the shortfalls during this challenging time.

Grab is considered to be the most valuable startups in Southeast Asia, at a last-known valuation of over $14 billion in March 2019. It has also raised more than US$850 million (RM3.71 billion) in February 2020 to drive its venture into fintech services in the region.

(Source: The Star)

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