"Mr. Zhang, actually I made it very clear when Mr. Lei came here last time.
Grab currently has no shortage of development funds and will not rashly disrupt our financing pace.
We expect to launch Series E financing in August, you’d better wait a few more months!”
In Grab's large and bright conference room, Chen Bingyao was talking to Zhang Yida in English.
He is a Malaysian Chinese, but he does not speak Mandarin and speaks Hokkien. Zhang Yida could not understand it, so he simply communicated in English throughout the process.
Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the conference room, you can see the endless coastline of Singapore. Zhang Yida is also thinking in his mind: How should we make this move in Southeast Asia?
Zhang Yida had only been talking to Chen Bingyao for a few minutes, and he could tell that he was very controlling and goal-oriented.
Once you make up your mind, you won't change it easily.
"Mr. Zhang, we at Grab have always admired and learned from China's Ruixiang Financial Technology Group.
We also established a research and development center in Beijing this year. It doesn’t matter even if we can’t negotiate financing, we can still cooperate in many fields.”
Grab co-founder Chen Huiling spoke, and her words were much more tactful than Chen Bingyao.
Ruixiang Group is more than 10 times larger than Grab and is a well-known company even in China.
In the field of Internet finance, besides Leech Financial Services, they are the only ones.
If you can make good friends with this kind of company, you must make good friends.
Zhang Yida has also heard about Grab setting up an R&D center in Beijing.
This is the first Internet company in Southeast Asia to open a branch in Beijing, which is indeed eye-catching.
As for the purpose, it is not difficult to guess: the first is to enjoy the dividends of Chinese engineers, and the second is to absorb Chinese talents and Internet models to help Grab complete localization in Southeast Asia.
Grab has currently completed the promotion and layout of taxi-hailing software in many countries in Southeast Asia, and has gradually turned its attention to areas such as food delivery, express delivery, grocery delivery, online payment and financial services.
I also learned this trick from Chinese companies and are determined to become a super APP.
A super APP provides users with a variety of Internet services, while also gathering traffic to feed various businesses.
“I heard that Grab has launched its own electronic GrabPay, which is indeed a very prophetic step.
I also predict that e-wallets will become the next entrepreneurial outlet in the Southeast Asian Internet market.
In addition to mobile payment, I judge that various financial segments such as Internet funds, Internet insurance, online financial management, and consumer credit also contain huge opportunities.
If Grab is interested in cooperating with Ruixiang, Ruixiang can transplant all these businesses to Southeast Asia.
GrabPay only focuses on mobile payment and is weak. There are local competitors in Southeast Asia, and giants may also enter in the future.
By spinning off Grab and developing it into a large financial holding company, I think it should be better able to adapt to the fierce competition environment it will face next."
Zhang Yida's words are sincere. He just wants to push Grab to separate its e-wallet, raise funds independently, and develop independently.
R.Pay is a move, and with the addition of Grab.Pay, as well as Air.Pay, which has an indirect shareholding in Sea Group, all the larger e-wallet companies in Southeast Asia are in trouble.
Chen Bingyao shook his head and said:
"Mr. Zhang, I'm afraid you don't know much about the Internet market in Southeast Asia. Except for e-wallets, the sub-sectors such as funds, insurance, lending, and financial management you mentioned are currently very difficult to implement.
Southeast Asia consists of 11 countries with a population of 650 million. The development of each country is very uneven, including the economy, politics, and humanities and customs.
In China, with the Internet infrastructure in place, a good idea can achieve a valuation of tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of millions of users in two or three years.
But in Southeast Asia, we can only promote it country by country, and we have to deal with the government agencies of each country.
Some countries have local protectionism and do not allow you to enter and develop business. The market can only be occupied by their local companies.
In addition, when entering markets in different countries and carrying out corresponding financial services, you must also comply with local regulatory policies.
Regulatory authorities in some countries or regions will also impose strict license requirements.
What I said so much means that we have to focus on the present and do mobile payment well first, and then talk about other things.
I know that Ruixiang Group has achieved impressive results in various financial segments in China.
But the region is different. This is Southeast Asia, and many Chinese models will not work here.
Without localization, it will be difficult to achieve success."
“Having said that, it’s always good to plan ahead.”
Zhang Yida still agrees with Chen Bingyao's words. The Southeast Asian market seems to be a fertile ground for entrepreneurship, but there are many pitfalls. Without three to five years of persistent hard work, don't think about the rewards.
In the previous life, after Lazada was acquired by Ali, several additional capital injections were made, and a total of several billion dollars were spent in Southeast Asia.
Revenue has been rising steadily, but profitability is still far away.
If you want to develop in Southeast Asia, you must be prepared for a protracted war.
“China’s domestic Internet dividend has reached its peak, and Ali, Penguin, Goudong, and Qiandu will slowly turn their attention to the Southeast Asian market.
In addition, many small Chinese startups are already gearing up and eager to go overseas.
With Grab planning ahead and planning ahead, it can also seize more markets.
If Mr. Chen doesn’t approve of what I say, then just take it as a joke!”
Zhang Yida is also a little impatient. He came all the way from China to invest in you, give you money and technology, and you push me out.
I'm so worried, I will fully support R.Pay and Air.Pay to fight for you.
In the future, Sea Group's e-wallet company Air.Pay will be split and upgraded into an independent financial group, which will develop more financial businesses and open up financing.
If GrabPay doesn't let you buy shares, save your money and invest it in Air.Pay.
Chen Bingyao is also weighing the gains and losses. Grab's most important business currently is taxi-hailing, followed by food delivery, and then e-wallet.
The current GrabPay is useless, with only one to two million users.
Should we separate it and give it to Ruixiang Group as a joint venture?
After the joint venture, Grab can obtain sufficient development funds and technology to develop more and richer financial businesses.
At the same time, all the money saved by the group can be invested in taxi-hailing and food delivery businesses, and the burden can be reduced a lot.
But what should I do if I split my electronic wallet and lose control?
Judging from Zhang Yida's tone, China's giant companies are coming to promote e-wallets.
WeChat Pay and PayBei are not good friends. They are backed by two parent groups with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars. They need money and technology.
"Mr. Zhang, GrabPay can be separated and operated as a joint venture with Ruixiang Group.
But I have a condition, which is to implement the AB share model."
Chen Bingyao still made a decision and decided to cooperate with Ruixiang Group, but the control of the company must be in his own hands.
“We are not a venture capital company, we not only provide money, but also technology.
It would be better if both parties manage it jointly!
You hold 51% of the shares, and we hold 49%."
Seeing that Chen Bingyao finally relented, Zhang Yida put forward his own conditions.
If you can’t invest in Grab, it’s not bad to get an e-wallet.
"It's too much. I'll give you up to 30% of the shares, and you have to use the AB share model."
Chen Bingyao is particularly concerned about control. He knows that in order for GrabPay to become bigger and stronger, spending money is indispensable.
If we do not engage in AB shares, subsequent capital increase and share expansion will easily change the subject and the object, and Ruixiang becomes the controlling shareholder.
When it comes to money, even if you include your own family, you can't compare to Ruixiang Group.
After arguing for a long time, everyone took a step back. Chen Bingyao agreed to Ruixiang's request to hold 49% of the shares, and Zhang Yida also agreed to the other party's AB shares.
GrabPay is priced at US$50 million, and Grab, as the parent company, will inject another US$1 million in cash, which is equivalent to investing US$51 million in the new company, accounting for 51% of the shares.
Ruixiang dispatched a technical team to Singapore and brought various financial technology patents of Ruixiang Group with a technical price of US$20 million.
In addition, Ruixiang Group injected another US$29 million in cash into GrabPay.
Ruixiang Technology invested a total of US$49 million plus cash, occupying 49% of the new company's shares.
After the electronic wallet matter was settled, Zhang Yida became much closer to Chen Bingyao and Chen Huiling.
After exchanging information about the Internet policies and regulations of their respective countries and their entrepreneurial experiences, Chen Huiling suddenly asked:
"Mr. Zhang, you also have a shared bicycle company in China called Huimin Bicycle, right?"
"Ah...yes, what's wrong?"
Zhang Yida was a little curious as to why they talked about shared bicycles.
"We at Grab are an Internet company that focuses on travel. Has Mr. Zhang ever thought about letting Huimin Bicycle cooperate with us?
Let Huimin Bicycle go overseas and operate in Southeast Asia.
We, Grab, can set up a joint venture with Huimin Bicycle to set up a shared bicycle company, Ruixiang will provide technology and funds, and Grab will be responsible for localized operations."
Zhang Yida didn’t know why Chen Huiling fell in love with shared bicycles.
When it comes to cycling overseas, Fof and Baimo did it in their previous lives, and the momentum was quite high, but the result was a complete failure overseas.
"Yes! Let's do a pilot project in Singapore first. If the effect is good, we can then promote it to other countries."
Grab also launched its own shared bicycle brand in its previous life, but it was not particularly well-known.
Southeast Asia is not particularly suitable for the promotion of shared bicycles, but motorcycles are more suitable.
However, Zhang Yida did not refuse people's kindness. Sharing bicycles abroad will also help increase his fame and worth.
However, Zhang Yida will not make a profit at a loss, and will definitely not enter some countries and regions that are not suitable for sharing bicycles.
Fortunately, Singapore is a garden city, and the quality of its citizens is pretty good, so it should not be damaged by bicycles.
In the previous life, the little yellow car entered Manchester, England, and 1,000 of them were put in. It is said that they were all damaged...
This is a developed country, and in terms of quality, it is not as good as China.
"Okay, we can jointly set up a brand and first put 1,000 bicycles in Singapore to try it out."
Chen Huiling smiled, Zhang Yida's cheerfulness was a bit beyond her expectation.
After staying in Singapore for a few more days, Zhang Yida hired a team of accountants and lawyers to finalize the joint venture e-wallet and joint venture shared bicycles, and then Zhang Yida returned to China.
Zhang Yida went back alone, while Lan Lan and Lei Dongming continued to complete their visits to RB, South Korea and India as originally planned.