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Feature-rich
mobile payments platform (NFC, QR-code, audio, P2P and more) to power GrabPay
expansion in 2018
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Leadership
team with senior payments experience at startups such as Nokia Money and OboPay
will join Grab’s Bangalore R&D centre
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Grab, the
leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform in Southeast
Asia, today announced it has acquired Bangalore-based payments startup iKaaz.
The rich functionality of iKaaz’ mobile payments platform and its experienced
leadership team will accelerate feature development and partner integration of
GrabPay, Grab’s payments platform. Already Southeast Asia’s #1 ride-hailing
platform, Grab is expanding across all markets in Southeast Asia in 2018 with
the goal of becoming the region’s universal payments platform.
Launched in 2014, iKaaz’ technology was built to
work in India’s challenging internet conditions and enable effortless and fast
payments for thousands of merchants. Ikaaz’ technology stack encompasses a
range of innovations, such as NFC, QR-code, audio-based payments as well as
bill payments, online payments and P2P. This flexibility and scalability make
it ideally suited for Southeast Asia’s diverse payments landscape and large
unbanked population.
“iKaaz’ technology has served merchants and partners
across different industries and in different settings, from parking lots and
airports to retail stores and hotels. This rich set of offline payments
features offers the flexibility needed to tailor our GrabPay platform to each
country and partner in Southeast Asia. We look forward to leveraging the
expertise of iKaaz’ leadership team and build GrabPay into SEA’s universal
payments platform together,” said Jason
Thompson, Managing Director, GrabPay Southeast Asia.
Following the completion of the acquisition, the
Ikaaz team will join Grab’s Bangalore R&D centre, adding valuable
experience and knowledge. The iKaaz leadership team brings on board experience
from respected payment startups such as Nokia Money and Obopay.
“Our team has worked tirelessly towards bringing
more people into the cashless economy. We’re proud of the product we built and
how it has enabled safe and easy mobile transactions for thousands of
merchants. By partnering with Grab, we now have an opportunity to see how our
tech can improve the lives of Southeast Asia’s more than 620 million people and
its growing digital economy,” added Soma
Sundaram, Founder of iKaaz.
As Grab continues to transform from Southeast Asia’s
largest on-demand transportation platform towards the region’s #1 consumer
internet platform, GrabPay has seen explosive growth in its services. Today,
the Grab platform already facilitates more than 3.5 million transactions daily
and facilitates over a billion transactions per year.
Grab’s Bangalore R&D centre, one of six
globally, serves as a centre of excellence for payments. First opened in March
2017, it has continued to rapidly expand. In November, the centre added Vikas
Agrawal, the former Senior VP of Engineering at PayTM, as the CTO for GrabPay.
The Bangalore R&D centre currently counts 75 engineers, with Grab planning
to hire 200 engineers in total by end of 2018.
About Grab
Grab is
Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform.
Grab solves critical transportation challenges to make transport freedom a
reality for 620 million people in Southeast Asia. Grab’s core product platform
includes transport solutions for drivers and passengers with an emphasis on
convenience, safety and reliability, as well as its proprietary mobile payments
platform, GrabPay, which is increasing access to mobile payment solutions for
millions of Grab riders and drivers across Southeast Asia and deepening
financial inclusion in the region. Grab currently offers services in Singapore,
Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. For more
information, please visit: http://www.grab.com.