Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab has struck a deal to buy Indonesian digital payments outfit Kudo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal, rumoured to be worth around $100 million, is part of a planned $700 million assault by Grab on the Indonesian market.
Kudo provides an online to offline (O2O) e-commerce platform that helps Indonesia's huge unbanked population shop on the web by connecting them with digital merchants via a network of more than 400,000 agents in 500 towns and cities across the country.
Grab says that it will integrate Kudo into its GrabPay mobile payments platform, using its reach to bring more riders, drivers and users onto the Grab platform.
The GrabPay unit was only launched last year but is becoming an increasingly important part of Grab's business. The firm has hired Euronet Worldwide exec Jason Thompson to head up the unit and says that it is looking into expanding Kudo into insurance and consumer loans.
Ming Maa, president, Grab, says: "Combining Kudo’s innovative O2O ecommerce solution and extensive agent network with GrabPay and Grab’s massive and active customer base will advance our mission of providing millions of people across Indonesia with increased access to convenient cashless payments and new income opportunities, while also unlocking compelling new ways to boost online spending."