Grab to Double Singapore Staff to 3,000 in Latest Expansion

(Bloomberg) -- Grab, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing company, plans to double its staff in Singapore to 3,000 by the time it moves into new headquarters next year.

Grab signed an 11-year lease for new offices in a development by Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust. The Singapore-based startup has a five-year renewal option and will occupy all of the building, which has an estimated floor area of 42,310 square meters and cost S$181.2 million ($133.7 million).

“The new building will allow us to put our growing team of up to 3,000 Grabbers under one roof,” Grab Chief Executive Officer Anthony Tan said at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday. “It is an affirmation of our long-term investment in Singapore.”

Grab is flush with cash after raising $4.5 billion from investors including SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund to bankroll efforts to become a one-stop shop for on-demand services in Southeast Asia. Last year it acquired Uber Technologies Inc.’s business in the region.

Grab will also add 1,000 technology jobs across its research and development centers in Bangalore, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seattle and Singapore. The jobs will include data scientists, artificial intelligence researchers and engineers, Tan said.

Seven-year-old Grab currently has 6,000 employees globally.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Robert Fenner, Peter Elstrom

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