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In Good Company
Investing in Grab: 'It's about how CEO spoke to his mum'
Vertex CEO Chua Kee Lock says character is key, and the decision to invest in a firm rests partly on the personality of its founder
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Vertex Holdings CEO Chua Kee Lock counts Grab as an iconic win. Vertex has since substantially exited Grab, reportedly making about 10 times the US$14 million or so it had put in over various stages for about a fifth of the company.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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Sometimes, the investment journey to creating a US$40 billion (S$53 billion) valuation company can begin with a missed opportunity to fund a US$100 billion firm when you could have got in at just 1/2,000th of that price.
In a sense, that is the background to Vertex Holdings' early investment in ride-hailing and delivery company Grab, South-east Asia's star Internet firm that got a nearly US$40 billion valuation when it merged in April with the special purpose acquisition vehicle Altimeter Growth Corp, with plans for a subsequent listing.
