Grab Inc. (“Grab”), the leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform in Southeast Asia, today announced that it has completed 1 billion rides across Southeast Asia.

Grab hit the 1 billion-ride milestone on 26 October 2017 with 66 concurrent rides in one second across all seven of its markets in Southeast Asia: Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Growth in rides has been accelerating rapidly this year. This rapid pace of growth demonstrates the on-demand transport’s enormous untapped potential in Southeast Asia, and how Grab’s multi-modal, hyper local approach, as well as its world-class technology are enabling it to capture this increasing demand.

Anthony Tan, Co-Founder and CEO of Grab, said, “This milestone is a great testament to the strength of Grab’s business and our management team that we have dramatically increased the size of our business in such a short time and not only maintained the same great service – but improved it by continuing to innovate our business, solve local problems and change lives through technology. I’m immensely grateful to all our driver-partners, passengers, investors and partners for their support, and the incredible Grab team that has managed this massive scale-up together.”

“As we drive forward together to the next 1 billion rides, we are even more focused than ever. We hope to bring our driver-partners and passengers the best on-demand transport experience. At the same time, we are taking a big step into mobile payments, enabling GrabPay beyond transport and making digital and financial inclusion possible for everyone in Southeast Asia. We are now looking forward to soon serving our billionth transaction in GrabPay.”

The 1 billion ride milestone builds on a series of major upgrades to Grab’s R&D and technological capabilities as the platform rapidly scales up to meet dramatically increasing demand from driver-partners and passengers. The company recently announced the appointment of Theo Vassilakis as Chief Technology Officer, and earlier in 2017, Grab doubled the number of its R&D centres from three to six, adding new centres in Bangalore, India, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Grab offers private car, motorbike, taxi, and carpooling services across 7 countries and 142 cities in Southeast Asia, with one out of every three passengers using multiple services. Grab’s current market share is 95% in third-party taxi-hailing and 72% in private vehicle hailing and it has the largest land fleet in Southeast Asia, with over 2.0 million driver partners who earn up to 55% more than national average hourly wages on its platform. Grab is also one of the most frequently used mobile platforms in the region with over 3.5 million daily rides, and the Grab app has been downloaded onto more than 68 million mobile devices. According to TNS, a global market research firm, Grab is the brand that is used most often in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, compared to other ride-hailing apps and taxi booking apps.

Improving lives of passengers and driver-partners in the Philippines

With 70% reduced passenger travel time compared to public transport and 35% higher driver-partner income rate on a per hour basis compared to average wages, Philippines is undeniably one of the most important markets in Southeast Asia.

Over the last five years, Grab has become part of Filipinos’ lives, providing convenient and safe ride options. At 7:34pm on October 26, three passengers from the Philippines helped Grab reach the 1 billion-ride milestone.

Edwin Rubido, one of the three lucky passengers who has been riding with Grab since 2013, booked a GrabCar and shared why Grab is his choice of transport. “I have asthma so pollution and dirt are my worst commute enemies.  It seemed that for most taxis and other transportation options, cleanliness and proper car hygiene have been taken for granted.  I look for comfort and convenience and that’s exactly what I get from Grab. It’s also very affordable so I use it whenever I can. Grab is my best choice. We have other transport options but as long as there’s Grab, I’ll use it. Thank you for bringing Grab to the Philippines, shared Rubido.”