New tools we launched in 2025 for Grab merchants to boost efficiency

Grab Editorial
. December 22, 2025 . Regional

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economy. They also make up the majority of merchants on Grab’s platform. Yet, these businesses often face challenges in keeping up with rapidly evolving technologies, which puts them at risk of being left behind.

At Grab, we are committed to fostering digital inclusion, ensuring that the transformative potential of cutting-edge technology—such as artificial intelligence—is accessible to small businesses, including the hawkers and local food stalls that are part of our region’s cultural fabric.

In 2025, we introduced two major improvements to help our merchant-partners unlock new growth opportunities and simplify daily operations.

Get business insights from MAI, Grab’s Merchant AI Assistant

At the heart of Grab’s innovations for merchants in 2025 is the Merchant AI Assistant, which we introduced in April.

Accessible through the Merchant App, this AI-powered tool acts as a virtual business advisor for merchants on Grab. It provides customised recommendations to help them optimise their businesses. 

For example, MAI can identify menu items that lack photos and guide merchants through adding them step-by-step. It also offers insights on marketing strategies, suggests new menu items based on local trends, and proposes promotional campaigns to stay competitive.

Crucially, merchants can interact with its chat interface in everyday, natural language, making the process intuitive and user-friendly. That’s possible thanks to advanced Large Language Models (LLMs), which we have combined with Grab-specific domain expertise to offer tailor-made advice and actionable insights.

As of December 2025, one in four of our active merchant-partners is already using MAI to simplify their daily tasks. This tool is set to become an indispensable partner for small businesses, boosting their growth while enhancing the marketplace experience for consumers as we continue to expand its capabilities.

Easy finance management with Grab’s revamped finance tools

Another major milestone this year was the revamp of our finance management tools for merchants. This is the section of the Grab Merchant app where business owners and their employees track sales and earnings.

Grab has grown exponentially over the years, and many merchant-partners on our platform juggle multiple streams of income: Online GrabFood or GrabMart orders, as well as in-store payments via GrabMerchant Payment Solutions or digital vouchers. They may also have taken out loans or insurance through our app and spent on digital ad campaigns to attract new customers. 

We want to make it as easy as possible for these small businesses to make sure all sales and expenses are correctly accounted for and easy to track.

The changes we made are subtle but meaningful to those working with these features every day: The design became more intuitive, the labeling clearer, making it much easier to navigate.

We are now also designing for different user roles within one business. For instance, all tools related to payment acceptance, which someone working in-store at a cashier would need at their fingertips, are now easy to find in a separate tile, called the Cashier Tile.

Responding to our query, 90% of merchant-partners said they were satisfied with the updates.

The upgrade of our merchant finance tools is an ongoing process, and we plan to add more features—including convenient ways to accept payments—in the coming months.

Better digital inclusion in Southeast Asia

Grab’s commitment to MSME empowerment remains steadfast. We’ll keep improving the AI Merchant Assistant and finance management tools, making the Merchant App a one-stop portal for the thousands of micro-and small businesses earning a living on Grab.

From identifying marketing opportunities, vastly speeding up menu setup, to keeping track of income across multiple channels, we aim to create tools that not only simplify operations but also drive growth for small businesses across the region.

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Komsan Chiyadis

GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand

Komsan Chiyadis

GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand

COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to the tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. One of them was Komsan, an assistant chef in a luxury hotel based in the Srinakarin area.

As the number of tourists at the hotel plunged, he decided to sign up as a GrabFood delivery-partner to earn an alternative income. Soon after, the hotel ceased operations.

Komsan has viewed this change through an optimistic lens, calling it the perfect opportunity for him to embark on a fresh journey after his previous job. Aside from GrabFood deliveries, he now also picks up GrabExpress jobs. It can get tiring, having to shuttle between different locations, but Komsan finds it exciting. And mostly, he’s glad to get his income back on track.