Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA; HKEX: 9988) is in talks with Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab for an investment that worth USD 3 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Alibaba will be the sole investor in the new round, through which it will buy some of Uber’s share in Grab, according to Chinese news outlet Sina. The deal could be one of Alibaba’s biggest bets in Southeast Asia since it first invested in Lazada in 2016.
This is the first major deal the Hangzhou-based Chinese tech behemoth made after it said earlier that it would pause its investments in India in the wake of the deadly Indo-China border clash.
Both Alibaba and Grab declined to comment when KrASIA reached out regarding this deal.
More on this please read: TECH PANORAMA | China and India tech ecosystems are more connected than you think
This article is part of KrASIA’s “Key Stat” series, where KrASIA picks and presents the most significant figures of the day’s technology and business world.