Many companies are talking about recovering to pre-Covid-19 levels, but most look at it in terms of years.
Like airlines.
But for a certain company in Singapore, it’s already becoming a reality.
Grab Revenue is Already Back to 95% of Pre-COVID-19 Period; More Than 50% from Food Delivery
According to Grab, their group revenue (Grab, GrabFood, etc) has already recovered to over 95% of pre-Covid-19 levels, or what we like to call, BC 2019.
Reader Bao: BC…?
Before-Covid-2019.
Reader Bao: You must think you’re really smart.
… Moving on.
According to an emailed newsletter to employees, President of Grab Ming Maa said that the Grab is recovering steadily with the entire group’s revenue recovering by 95% of pre-Covid-19 level revenues in the third quarter of 2020.
Of these, the food delivery business performed the best, accounting for more than 50% of the total revenue, which isn’t surprising considering that Singapore’s the foodie nation.
That and most young people are now stuck working at home so they’ll call for more deliveries.
Focus To Shift To Financial Services & Merchant Services
Pointing out that Grab’s foundation has been built right, Maa told employees that they will now be focusing on two other areas: financial services and merchant services.
If you remember, Grab has partnered up with Singtel to bid for a digital banking license back in 2019.
In Jun 2020, it was reported that the Grab-Singtel partners were one of the 14 bidders shortlisted for the license.
In fact, the partnership has managed to headhunt Citigroup’s former retail head in Singapore, Charles Wong, who will be senior managing director of the digital bank if it comes to fruition.
Not Profitable Yet
By the way, you’ve probably heard of this adage before: If you open a business, be prepared to lose money for three years.
It’s been more than 8 years (Grab was founded in June 2012) but according to CNA, Grab has yet to turn profitable.
They’ve been surviving these few years by getting investments from various sources including SoftBank (their biggest backer), Tiger Global, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, and even Honda.
In the same newsletter, Maa revealed that South Korean private equity firm STIC Investments had invested US$200 million in Grab.
Whether that means the 360 employees that were laid off will be affected by the upturn within the Grab firm or not, remains to be seen.
But, at least, Grab has shown one thing: Beating Covid-19 is possible for businesses.
Let’s hope that with the various support schemes and opportunities out there, more businesses (and individuals) in Singapore will find themselves recovering from the pandemic financially, too.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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