Toyota to invest $1b in Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab

Toyota Motor Corp has agreed to invest $1 billion in Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab as a lead investor in the company's ongoing financing round, which was launched after it bought the regional business of Uber Technologies Inc.

The investment by Toyota is the largest-ever by an automaker in the global ride-hailing sector, the six-year old start-up said in a statement on Wednesday.

It is also the latest collaboration between a global vehicle maker and a technology firm as ride-hailing companies dominate the fast-growing field of mobility services, raising the risk of a future where car ownership declines in favour of such services.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp last month announced it would invest $2.25 billion in the Cruise autonomous vehicle unit of General Motors Co, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC have agreed to supply vehicles for Alphabet Inc's self-driving car subsidiary Waymo.

Toyota's investment will allow Grab, which counts peer Didi and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp as investors, to further expand its range of online to offline services, such as food delivery and digital payments, deeper into the region.

Grab will be valued at just over $10 billion after Toyota's investment, said a person familiar with the matter. A Toyota executive will be appointed to Grab's board of directors and a dedicated Toyota team member will be seconded to Grab as an executive officer, the ride-hailing firm said.

Wednesday's announcement deepens Toyota's partnership with Grab, following an earlier, undisclosed investment by the automaker's trading arm last year.

Toyota has installed its driving recorder devices in some vehicles operated by Grab, using the collected data stored in its mobility services platform to analyse driving patterns and develop vehicle services.