[Watch] CFO Peter Oey: Grab’s superapp advantage and global lessons from Southeast Asia

The power of the superapp ecosystem

At its core, Grab’s superapp model relies on convenience and deeply ingrained daily habits. Within a single application, a user can hail a two-, three-, or four-wheeled ride, order food, arrange grocery deliveries, send couriers, and manage their finances.

Whereas in the West, users are more familiar with having one app for one need, “in Southeast Asia, we’ve been quite fortunate, we grew up with that. People just gravitated toward using this one app for everything,” says Oey.

The unified ecosystem comes with efficiencies. For example, instead of spending heavily to acquire new customers for every individual service, Grab uses its core mobility and food delivery services as low-cost acquisition channels. Once a user is on the platform, Grab seamlessly cross-sells other services. This translates into millions of highly engaged users who come to the platform with a specific intent but are open to experiencing more services.

Banking the underserved

Peter explains that the interconnectedness of Grab’s platform also gave rise to one of the most significant pillars of Grab’s growth: its Financial Services and fintech arm.

In Southeast Asia, the vast majority of the working population operates within the informal economy. Millions of drivers and merchants may completely lack traditional bank accounts or formal credit histories.

When they join Grab, drivers, for instance, often don’t have the option of going to the bank for a loan.

That’s a financing gap that can be and needs to be overcome, says Oey.  “We know these people. They drive 10 hours a day, their digital wallets are with us. Why can’t they have access to finance? We’re willing to underwrite them.”

Grab saw an opportunity to step into this gap by utilising its own platform data to underwrite risk. Because the platform processes daily transactions and manages the digital wallets of its drivers, it can accurately evaluate creditworthiness and issue crucial working capital loans in a matter of minutes. This approach protects them from predatory loan sharks and empowers them to better support their livelihoods, for instance by funding their children’s education or repairing their vehicles.

Because of this massive potential, Oey explains, Grab is scaling its financial services and digital banks.

The company has launched three digital banks in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia to reach more customers and expand the range of its financial offerings. Grab’s financial arm is now on track toward segment break-even in the second half of 2026, as its digital banks continue to scale.

Through the recent acquisition of the US-based investing app Stash, Grab is also expanding into wealth management for the underserved.

Accelerating EV penetration against global headwinds

Giving drivers access to financing also plays a crucial role in accelerating Southeast Asia’s transition towards electric vehicles.

The primary barrier for drivers has always been cost; traditional gas-powered vehicles remain cheaper upfront and carry a reliable secondhand market. The company is creating tailored financing programmes to make EVs more accessible region-wide, which is especially relevant because fuel prices can be volatile during periods of macroeconomic uncertainty.

Additionally, Grab is actively educating communities on how to transition safely to electric vehicles, viewing EV adoption as both an economic necessity for its drivers and an environmental responsibility for the region.

Turning data into an intelligence layer

Ultimately, Grab’s superapp advantage hinges on transforming data into intelligence.

“We’ve got a big volume of data on Southeast Asia. How do you cultivate that into what we call an intelligence layer? And then, how do we create an AI layer on top of that, where we can customise products for the individual user,” asks Oey.

Grab is in the process of answering that question. Rather than viewing artificial intelligence as a disruptive risk, Grab treats AI as a vital acquisition channel and core operational layer. Over 14 years of regional operations, Grab has amassed an enormous proprietary regional dataset consisting of over 20 billion individual data points gathered from 10 million daily transactions.

This data is fed directly into localised AI experiences designed to optimise Grab’s marketplace in the physical world and make everyday life easier.

For consumers, that might look like an AI Assistant accurately predicting food preferences or offering one-click ride bookings based on previous rides or synced calendars.

For Grab merchant-partners, AI tools help create more appealing menus, effective marketing campaigns and customer promotions.

For driver-partners, a real-time “AI Coach” built directly into the driver application assists with navigation, maps out fuel-efficient routes, and maximises earning hours.

The road ahead

As Grab marches toward its 2028 target of US$ 1.5 billion in full-year EBITDA, Oey emphasises that its core narrative remains clear: by solving the hyper-local challenges of transportation, daily delivery, and financial services, Grab has built crucial infrastructure to support Southeast Asia’s future.