The rise of the Asian 'super app'

Demand for digital services poses a threat to traditional banks in the region but many start-ups are bleeding cash

As well as GrabPay, its payment platform, Grab also runs the GrabCar and GrabTaxi ride-hailing businesses and other operations, including GrabBike for on-demand motorcycle services, GrabFresh for grocery shopping and GrabFood for food delivery. ST PH
As well as GrabPay, its payment platform, Grab also runs the GrabCar and GrabTaxi ride-hailing businesses and other operations, including GrabBike for on-demand motorcycle services, GrabFresh for grocery shopping and GrabFood for food delivery. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
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Rice Basket Queen is the name of a stall run by Ms Ruri Ruhyaty in a bustling suburb of Jakarta. A year ago, it was typical of thousands of others. Ms Ruri would place her fish and vegetable dishes on banana leaves on the front counter and wait for customers to walk by.

Then she signed up with Grab, a food delivery and digital payment start-up that is one of the leaders of South-east Asia's fintech revolution. Now her food is delivered to diners on the back of motorbikes through miles of traffic-snarled streets in the Indonesian capital. Her accounting system has evolved from a pen and scraps of paper to an automatically updated digital log. Clients who used to hand over cash now pay with a smartphone app.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 13, 2019, with the headline The rise of the Asian 'super app'. Subscribe