UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 20-F
(Mark One)
| REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
OR
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31 , 2021
OR
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
OR
| SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Date of event requiring this shell company report
Commission file number: 001-41110
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Not Applicable
(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)
(Jurisdiction of incorporation)
#01-03/06
(address of principal executive offices)
Grab Holdings Limited
#01-03/06
(Name, Telephone,
E-mail
and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person) Securities registered or to be registered, pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
(Title of Class)
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:
None
(Title of Class)
Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital stock or common stock as of the close of business covered by the annual report: 3,619,097,899 Class A ordinary shares, 122,882,309 Class B ordinary shares, and 25,999,981 warrants, as of December 31, 2021
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation Yes ☒ No ☐
S-T
(§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a
non-accelerated
filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2
of the Exchange Act. | Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ☒ | ||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards † provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
| † | The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012. |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
| U.S. GAAP ☐ | |
Other ☐ | ||||||
| by the International Accounting Standards Board ☒ |
If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. Item 17 ☐ Item 18 ☐
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule ☒
12b-2
of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No (APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. Yes ☐ No ☐
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i
CONVENTIONS AND FREQUENTLY USED TERMS
In this annual report, unless the context otherwise requires, the “Company,” “Grab” and references to “we,” “us,” or similar such references should be understood to be references to Grab Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities. When this annual report refers to “Grab” “we,” “us,” or similar such references in the context of discussing Grab’s business or other affairs prior to the consummation of the Business Combination on December 1, 2021, it refers to the business of Grab Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities. Following the date of consummation of the Business Combination, references to “Grab” “we,” “us,” or similar such references should be understood to refer to Grab Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities. Given that the Business Combination is accounted for as a reverse acquisition, as described in more detail in Note 28 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report, and the accounting acquirer is Grab Holdings Inc., the post-Business Combination financial statements included in this annual report show the consolidated balances and transactions of the Company and Grab Holdings Inc.
Certain amounts and percentages that appear in this annual report may not sum due to rounding.
Unless otherwise stated or unless the context otherwise requires, in this annual report:
“
AI
” means artificial intelligence; “
base incentive(s)
” means the amount of incentives to driver- and merchant-partners up to the amount of commissions and fees earned by us from those driver- and merchant-partners; “
Business Combination
” means the Initial Merger, the Acquisition Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement; “
Business Combination Transactions
” means, collectively, the Initial Merger, the Acquisition Merger and each of the other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the Confidential Disclosure Agreement, dated as of February 8, 2021, between AGC and GHI, the PIPE Subscription Agreements, the Amended and Restated Forward Purchase Agreements, the Sponsor Support Agreement, the GHI Shareholder Support Agreements, the Registration Rights Agreement, the Shareholders’ Deed, the Backstop Subscription Agreement, the Sponsor Subscription Agreement, the Assignment, Assumption and Amendment Agreement, the Initial Merger Filing Documents, the Acquisition Merger Filing Documents and any other related agreements, documents or certificates entered into or delivered pursuant thereto. For details about the Business Combination Transactions and the related agreements, see “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—B. Related Party Transactions”; “
CAGR
” means compound annual growth rate; “
Class
A Ordinary Shares
” refers to Class A ordinary shares of the share capital of our company with a par value of $0.000001 each; “
Class
B Ordinary Shares
” refers to Class B ordinary shares of the share capital of our company with a par value of $0.000001 each; “
consumer
” refers to an end-user
who uses services offered through our platform; “
Digital Banking JV
” means GXS Bank Pte. Ltd., a private limited company incorporated under the laws of Singapore, which is the joint venture entity with one of our subsidiaries and a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Limited (“Singtel”) as its shareholders and is the entity through which their joint application to the MAS for a digital full bank license in Singapore was made; “
digital lending
” means lending through digital channels with no in-person
interactions, which includes both corporate SME lending and consumer lending conducted through such channels; “
driver-partner
” refers to an independent third-party contractor who provides mobility and/or deliveries services on our platform; 1
“” means a software-based system that allows individuals to perform digital and/or electronic payments to a business or individual for either goods or services. This includes proximity transactions in which the device must interact with the point of sale (“POS”) terminal in some way in order to initiate the payment transaction and remote transactions in which the location of the device to the POS terminal is irrelevant. Both pass-through and staged
e-wallet
e-wallets
transactions are included. Peer to peer transfer transactions are excluded; “
excess incentive(s)
” occurs when the amount of payments made to driver- and merchant-partners exceed the amount of commissions and fees earned by us from those driver- and merchant-partners; “
Exchange Ratio
” means the quotient obtained by dividing $13.032888 by $10.00, which is 1.3032888; “
Existing Warrant Agreement
” means the warrant agreement, dated September 30, 2020, by and between AGC and Continental; “
GDP
” means gross domestic product, which is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Current prices of goods and services were used in its calculation; “
GFG
” means AA Holdings Inc., an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and holding company for Grab’s financial services businesses, including its equity interest in the Digital Banking JV; “
GHI
” means Grab Holdings Inc., an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, or as the context requires, Grab Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities; “
GHL
” means Grab Holdings Limited (formerly known as J1 Holdings Inc.), an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, or as the context requires, Grab Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities; “
GrabBike
” refers to our ride-hailing booking service, which enables driver-partners to accept bookings for private hire motorcycle rides through our driver-partner application; “
GrabCar
” refers to our ride-hailing booking service, which enables private hire driver-partners to accept bookings through our driver-partner application, and includes various localized offerings including premium cars (GrabCar Premium), cars equipped to transport persons with mobility needs (GrabAssist), cars equipped with child seats (GrabFamily), large format vehicles or premium economy vehicles (GrabCar Plus) and luxury vans for airport or business travelers (GrabLux); “
GrabExpress
” means our package delivery booking service, which enables driver-partners to accept bookings for package delivery services through our driver-partner application; “
GrabFood
” means our food ordering and delivery booking service, which enables merchant-partners to accept bookings for prepared meals from consumers (with options for on-demand
deliveries, scheduled deliveries and pick-up
orders) through our merchant-partner application and it also enables driver-partners to accept bookings for prepared meal delivery services through our driver-partner application; “
GrabForGood Fund
” means our proposed endowment fund that aims to introduce and support programs that empower Southeast Asian communities to improve socioeconomic mobility and quality of life; “
GrabHitch
” refers to our carpooling booking service, which enables drivers other than our driver-partners, who sign up through our platform, to accept bookings for carpool rides through our platform; “
GrabInvest
” refers to investment products offered through our platform, including those based on money market and short-term fixed-income mutual funds, in which users can invest and grow their savings; 2
“
GrabKios
” refers to the services offered through our platform in Indonesia, which allow GrabKios agents to act as distributors or resellers of digital goods including mobile airtime credits, bill payment services and e-commerce
purchasing services; “
GrabKitchen
” means our centralized food preparation facilities, which are used by certain merchant-partners; “
GrabMart
” means our goods ordering and delivery booking service, which enables merchant-partners to accept bookings for goods from consumers (with options for on-demand
deliveries, scheduled deliveries and pick-up
orders) through our merchant-partner application, and it also enables driver-partners to accept bookings for goods delivery services through our driver-partner application; “
GrabMerchant
” refers to the platform that we provide which equips merchant-partners with tools to grow their business; “
GrabPay
” means our digital payments solution, which allows consumers to make online and offline electronic payments using their mobile wallet and also allows our driver- and merchant-partners to receive digital payments for their services; “
GrabRentals
” refers to our offering which facilitates vehicle rental for our driver-partners at competitive rates through our rental fleet or third-party rental services, to allow driver-partners with limited vehicle access to offer services on our platform; “
GrabRewards
” means our loyalty platform providing consumers that use services offered through our platform with a large catalog of points redemption options, including offers from both popular merchant-partners and us; “
JustGrab
” refers to our ride-hailing booking service, which enables driver-partners to accept bookings for private hire car rides or taxi rides, in both cases with upfront non-metered
pricing; “
Key Executives
” refers to our CEO and co-founder
Anthony Tan, co-founder
Tan Hooi Ling and President Maa Ming-Hokng; “
MAS
” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore; “
merchant-partner
” refers to online and offline merchants, restaurants and food stalls, convenience stores or retail shops or shops that sell products or services on our platform; “
MSMEs
” means micro, small and medium sized businesses; “
NASDAQ
” means the Nasdaq Stock Market; “” refers to drivers (regardless of vehicle type) registered with an
on-demand
driveron-demand
service provider, who can be deployed on demand to fulfill a variety of services such as services associated with ride-hailing, food delivery, and logistics; “
online food delivery
” means prepared meals (food and drink) which are ordered online and delivered to the consumer. Only orders made by means of platforms are included and does not include takeaway sales, transported off premise by the consumer; “
online investment
” means investments through digital channels with no in-person
interactions; “
OVO
” refers to PT Visionet Internasional, a subsidiary of PT Bumi Cakrawala Perkasa, one of our subsidiaries, and a digital platform service located in Indonesia that offers payments, customer incentives in the form of loyalty points and financial services; “ products offered through our platform that enables receivables factoring or digital lending service (in certain markets) and allow our driver- and merchant-partners to offer their consumers the option to pay for goods and services either in one bill at the end of the month or such other predetermined period or on an installment basis;
PayLater
” refers to the buy-now-pay-later
3
“
PDPC
” means Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore’s main authority in matters relating to personal data protection; “
Permitted Entities
” of a Key Executive means: (i) any person in respect of which the Key Executive has, directly or indirectly (A) control over the voting of Class B Ordinary Shares held or to be transferred to that person, (B) the ability to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of that person or any other person having authority referred to in the immediately foregoing, or (C) the operational or practical control of that person, including through the right to appoint, designate, remove or replace the person having the authority referred to in the foregoing; (ii) any trust the beneficiaries of which consist primarily of a Key Executive, his or her family members, and/or any person controlled by a trust, including, with respect to Mr. Tan, Hibiscus Worldwide Ltd.; or (iii) any person controlled by a trust described in the immediately foregoing; “
Permitted Transferee
” of a holder of Class B Ordinary Shares means: (i) any Key Executive; (ii) any Key Executive’s Permitted Entities; (iii) the transferee or other recipient in any transfer of any GHL Class B Ordinary Shares by any holder of Class B Ordinary Shares to (A) his or her family members, (B) any other relative or individual approved by the GHL board of directors, (C) any trust or estate planning entity primarily for the benefit of, or the ownership interest of which are controlled by, such holder of Class B Ordinary Shares, his or her family members and/or other trusts or estate planning entities, or any entity controlled by such a trust or estate planning entity, or (D) occurring by operation of law, including in connection with divorce proceedings; (iv) any charitable organization, foundation or similar entity; (v) GrabForGood Fund; (vi) GHL or any of its subsidiaries; and (vii) in connection with a transfer as a result of, or in connection with, the death or incapacity of a Key Executive other than Mr. Tan, any Key Executive’s family members, another holder of Class B Ordinary Shares, or a designee approved by a majority of all members of GHL’s board of directors (and Class B Directors shall form a majority of such majority of all directors); provided that (x) as a condition to the applicable transfer, any Permitted Transferee shall have adhered to the proxy to Mr. Tan; and (y) in case of any transfer of Class B Ordinary Shares pursuant to clauses (ii)-(v) above to a person who later ceases to be a Permitted Transferee, GHL may refuse registration of any subsequent transfer except back to the transferor of such Class B Ordinary Shares; “
prepared meal
” means food and drink served through channels such as cafés/bars, full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, self-service cafeterias and street stalls/kiosks; “
receivables factoring
” means the purchasing from merchants or service providers of account payables to them by consumers to whom they have provided goods or services; “
regional corporate costs
” means costs that are not attributed to any of the business segments, including certain regional research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses and marketing expenses. These regional research and development expenses also include mapping and payment technologies and support and development of the internal technology infrastructure. These general and administrative expenses also include certain shared costs such as finance, accounting, tax, human resources, technology and legal costs. Regional corporate costs exclude share-based compensation expenses; “
ride-hailing
” means prearranged and on-demand
transportation service for compensation in which drivers and passengers connect via digital applications or platforms; “
SEC
” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; “
Southeast Asia
” refers to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, unless otherwise noted; “
superapp
” means an integrated mobile application of many applications that aims to provide a one-stop
marketplace platform with multiple offerings delivered via a single technology platform and third-party integrations; “
Term Loan B Facility
” means the $2 billion senior secured term loan B facility under the Credit and Guaranty Agreement, dated as of January 29, 2021 (as amended), by and among GHI, Grab Technology LLC, certain guarantors, certain lenders, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and Wilmington Trust (London) Limited, as collateral agent; 4
“
total insurance premium volume
” means direct premium volumes of insurance companies. Premiums paid to state social insurers are not included, and life and non-life
premium volume are included; “
U.S. Dollars
” and “$
” means United States dollars, the legal currency of the United States; and “
Warrant
” means a warrant to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. Non-IFRS
Financial Measures Unless otherwise stated or unless the context otherwise requires in this annual report:
“
Adjusted EBITDA
” is a non-IFRS
financial measure calculated as net loss adjusted to exclude: (i) net interest income (expenses), (ii) other income (expenses), (iii) income tax expenses (credit), (iv) depreciation and amortization, (v) share-based compensation expenses, (vi) costs related to mergers and acquisitions, (vii) unrealized foreign exchange gain (loss), (viii) impairment losses on goodwill and non-financial
assets, (ix) fair value changes on investments, (x) restructuring costs, (xi) legal, tax and regulatory settlement provisions and (xii) share listing and associated expenses; and “
Segment Adjusted EBITDA
” is a non-IFRS
financial measure, representing the Adjusted EBITDA of each of our four business segments, excluding, in each case, regional corporate costs. Key Operating Metrics
Unless otherwise stated or unless the context otherwise requires in this annual report:
“
commission rate
” represents the total dollar value paid to Grab in the form of commissions and fees from each transaction, without any adjustments for incentives paid to driver- and merchant-partners or promotions to end-users,
as a percentage of GMV, over the period of measurement; “
consumer incentives
” represents the dollar value of discounts and promotions offered to consumers, the effect of which is to reduce revenue; “
GMV
” means gross merchandise value, an operating metric representing the sum of the total dollar value of transactions from our services, including any applicable taxes, tips, tolls and fees, over the period of measurement; “
MTUs
” means monthly transacting users, which is an operating metric defined as the monthly number of unique users who transact via our products, where transact means to have successfully paid for any of our products. MTUs over a quarterly or annual period are calculated based on the average of the MTUs for each month in the relevant period; “
partner incentives
” represents the dollar value of incentives granted to driver- and merchant-partners, the effect of which is to reduce revenue. The incentives granted to driver- and merchant-partners include base incentives and excess incentives, with base incentives being the amount of incentives paid to driver- and merchant-partners up to the amount of commissions and fees earned by us from those driver- and merchant-partners, and excess incentives being the amount of payments made to driver- and merchant-partners that exceed the amount of commissions and fees earned by us from those driver- and merchant-partners; and “
TPV
” means total payments volume received from consumers, which is an operating metric defined as the value of payments, net of payment reversals, successfully completed through our platform. 5
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This annual report includes statements that express our opinions, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or projections regarding future events or future results of operations or financial condition and therefore are, or may be deemed to be, “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believe,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “seek,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will” or “should” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this annual report and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies, future market conditions or economic performance and developments in the capital and credit markets, expected future financial performance, the markets in which we operate, the benefits and synergies of the Business Combination, including anticipated cost savings, as well as the possible or assumed future results of operations of the combined company after the recent consummation of the Business Combination. Such forward-looking statements are based on available current market material and management’s expectations, beliefs and forecasts concerning future events impacting us. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include:
| • | Developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including, among others, with respect to stay-at-home COVID-19 cases and the occurrence of new COVID-19 strains; |
| • | The regulatory environment and changes in laws, regulations or policies in the jurisdictions in which we operate; |
| • | Our ability to successfully compete in highly competitive industries and markets; |
| • | Our ability to reduce incentives paid to driver-partners, merchant-partners and consumers; |
| • | Our ability to continue to adjust our offerings to meet market demand, attract users to our platform and grow our ecosystem; |
| • | Political instability in the jurisdictions in which we operate; |
| • | Breaches of laws or regulations in the operation and management of our current and future businesses and assets; |
| • | The overall economic environment and general market and economic conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate; |
| • | Our ability to execute our strategies, manage growth and maintain our corporate culture as we grow; |
| • | Our anticipated investments in new products and offerings, and the effect of these investments on our results of operations; |
| • | Changes in the need for capital and the availability of financing and capital to fund these needs; |
| • | Anticipated technology trends and developments and our ability to address those trends and developments with our products and offerings; |
| • | The safety, affordability, convenience and breadth of our platform and offerings; |
| • | Man-made or natural disasters, including war, acts of international or domestic terrorism, civil disturbances, occurrences of catastrophic events and acts of God such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires, typhoons and other adverse weather and natural conditions that may directly or indirectly affect our business or assets; |
| • | The loss of key personnel and the inability to replace such personnel on a timely basis or on acceptable terms; |
| • | Exchange rate fluctuations; |
| • | Changes in interest rates or rates of inflation; |
| • | Legal, regulatory and other proceedings; |
| • | Changes in applicable laws or regulations, or the application thereof on us; |
| • | Our ability to maintain the listing of our securities on NASDAQ; and |
| • | The results of any future financing efforts. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this annual report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We will not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. In light of these risks and uncertainties, you should keep in mind that any event described in a forward-looking statement made in this annual report or elsewhere might not occur.
6
PART I
ITEM 1. |
IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS |
Not applicable.
ITEM 2. |
OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE |
Not applicable.
ITEM 3. |
KEY INFORMATION |
A. [Reserved]
B. Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not applicable.
C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not applicable.
D. Risk Factors
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants involves significant risks. Below is a summary of material risks we face, organized under relevant headings. These risks are discussed more fully after this summary. You should carefully consider the risks below and after this summary before making an investment decision. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. Our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry
| • | Our business is still in a relatively early stage of growth, and if our business or superapp platform do not continue to grow, grow more slowly than we expect, fail to grow as large as we expect or fail to achieve profitability, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. |
| • | We face intense competition across the segments and markets we serve. |
| • | We have incurred net losses in each year since inception and may not be able to continue to raise sufficient capital or achieve or sustain profitability. |
| • | Our ability to decrease net losses and achieve profitability is dependent on our ability to reduce the amount of partner and consumer incentives we pay relative to the commissions and fees we receive for our services. |
| • | Our business is subject to numerous legal and regulatory risks that could have an adverse impact on our business and prospects. |
| • | Our brand and reputation are among our most important assets and are critical to the success of our business. |
| • | The COVID-19 pandemic has materially impacted our business, is still ongoing, and it or other pandemics or public health threats could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. |
| • | If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. |
| • | We are subject to various laws with regard to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and have operations in certain countries known to experience high levels of corruption. Our audit and risk committee led an investigation into potential violations of certain anti-corruption laws related to our operations in one of the countries in which we operate and have voluntarily self-reported the potential violations to the U.S. Department of Justice. There can be no assurance that failure to comply with any such laws would not have a material adverse effect on us. |
| • | If we are required to reclassify drivers as employees or otherwise, or if driver-partners and/or employees unionize, there may be adverse business, financial, tax, legal and other consequences. |
| • | If we are unable to continue to grow our base of platform users, including driver- or merchant-partners and consumers accessing our offerings, our value proposition for each such constituent group could diminish, |
7
Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure and Doing Business in Southeast Asia
| • | In certain jurisdictions, we are subject to restrictions on foreign ownership. |
| • | We are subject to risks associated with operating in the rapidly evolving Southeast Asia, and we are therefore exposed to various risks inherent in operating and investing in the region. |
| • | Our revenue and net income may be materially and adversely affected by any economic slowdown or developments in the social, political, regulatory and economic environments in any regions of Southeast Asia as well as globally. |
| • | Uncertainties with respect to the legal system in certain markets in Southeast Asia could adversely affect us. |
| • | We could face uncertain tax liabilities in various jurisdictions where we operate, and suffer adverse financial consequences as a result. |
Risks Relating to the Company’s Securities
| • | The prices of our Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants may be volatile. |
| • | Sales of a substantial number of our securities in the public market by our existing securityholders could cause the price of our Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants to fall. |
| • | Unanticipated losses, write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges, taxes (direct or indirect), levies or other liabilities may be incurred or required subsequent to, or in connection with, the Business Combination consummated in December 2021, which could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition and results of operations and the price of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants, which in turn could cause you to lose some or all of your investment. |
| • | Becoming a public company through a merger rather than an underwritten offering presents risks to unaffiliated investors. We may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our Securities, which could cause our shareholders to lose some or all of their investment. |
| • | We may issue additional securities without shareholder approval in certain circumstances, which would dilute existing ownership interests and may depress the market price of our shares. |
Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry
Our business is still in a relatively early stage of growth, and if our business or superapp platform do not continue to grow, grow more slowly than we expect, fail to grow as large as we expect or fail to achieve profitability, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Although our business has grown rapidly, our businesses in Southeast Asia and in particular our superapp platform are relatively new, and there is no assurance that we will be able to achieve and maintain growth and profitability across all of our business segments. There is also no assurance that market acceptance of our offerings will continue to grow or that new offerings will be accepted. In addition, our business could be impacted by macro-economic conditions and their effect on discretionary consumer spending, which in turn could impact consumer demand for offerings made available through our platform.
Our management believes that our growth depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:
| • | expand and diversify our deliveries, mobility, financial services and other offerings, which include innovating in new areas such as financial services and often requires us to make long-term investments and absorb losses while we build scale; |
| • | maintain and/or increase the scale of the driver- and merchant-partner base and increase consumer usage of our platform and the synergies within our ecosystem; |
| • | optimize our cost efficiency; |
| • | reduce incentives paid to driver-partners, merchant-partners and consumers; |
| • | enhance and develop our superapp, the tools we provide the driver- and merchant-partners and payments network along with our other technology and infrastructure; |
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| • | recruit and retain high quality industry talent; |
| • | expand our business in the countries in which we operate, which requires managing varying infrastructure, regulations, systems and user expectations and implementing our hyperlocal approach to operations; |
| • | expand into business activities where we have limited experience, such as offline businesses, or no experience at all; |
| • | manage price sensitivity and driver- and merchant-partner and consumer preferences by segment and geographic location, particularly as we aim to increase market penetration within our markets; |
| • | maintain and enhance our reputation and brand; |
| • | ensure adequate safety and hygiene standards are established and maintained across our offerings; |
| • | continue to form strategic partnerships, including with leading multinationals and global brands; |
| • | manage our relationships with stakeholders and regulators in each of our markets, as well as the impact of existing and evolving regulations; |
| • | obtain and maintain licenses and regulatory approvals that may be required for our financial services or other offerings; |
| • | compete effectively with our competitors; and |
| • | manage the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. |
We may not successfully accomplish any of these objectives.
In addition, achieving profitability will require us, for example, to continue to grow and scale our business, manage promotion and incentive spending, improve monetization, improve efficiency in scale marketing and other spending and increase consumer spending on our platform. Our growth so far has been driven in part by incentives we offer driver-partners, merchant-partners and consumers. As we have achieved greater scale, we have and may continue to seek to reduce incentives, which can impact both profitability and growth. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2021 our revenue declined by 44% from the fourth quarter of 2020 as we preemptively invested to grow the supply of active drivers on our platform to support recovery in mobility demand. Consumer incentives for mobility and deliveries also increased in the same quarter as we invested in maintaining and growing our category share and MTU growth. We have and may continue to make additional investments in driver and consumer incentives in the first half of 2022, and to the extent we continue to make such investments in the future, our revenue could again be adversely impacted.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to grow and manage each of our segments or our superapp platform or achieve or maintain profitability. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on our ability to develop appropriate strategies and plans, including our sales and marketing efforts, and implement such plans effectively. If driver- and merchant-partners and consumers accessing offerings through our platform do not perceive us as beneficial, or choose not to utilize us, then the market for our business may not further develop, may develop slower than we expect, or may not achieve the growth potential or profitability we expect, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We face intense competition across the segments and markets we serve.
We face competition in each of our segments and markets. The segments and markets in which we operate are intensely competitive and characterized by shifting user preferences, fragmentation, and introductions of new services and offerings. We compete both for driver- and merchant-partners and for consumers accessing offerings through our platform. Our competitors may operate in single or multiple segments and in a single market or regionally across multiple markets. These competitors may be well-established or new entrants and focused on providing
low-cost
alternatives or higher quality offerings, or any combination thereof. New competitors may include established players with existing businesses in other segments or markets that expand to compete in our segments or markets. Competitors focused on a limited number of segments or markets may be better able to develop specialized expertise or employ resources in a more targeted manner than we do. Such competitors may also enjoy lower overhead costs by not operating across multiple segments and markets. Our competitors in certain geographic markets may enjoy competitive advantages such as reputational advantages, better brand recognition, longer operating histories, larger marketing budgets, better localized knowledge, and more supportive regulatory regimes and may also offer discounted services, driver- or merchant-partner incentives, consumer incentives, discounts or promotions, innovative products and offerings, or alternative pricing models. From time to time competitive factors have caused, and may continue to cause, us to reduce prices or fees and commissions and increase driver-partner, merchant-partner or consumer incentives and marketing expenses, which has impacted and could continue to impact our revenues and costs. Furthermore, the rise of nationalism coupled with government policies favoring the creation or growth of local technology companies could favor our competitors and impact our position in our markets. In addition, some of our competitors may consolidate to expand their market position and capabilities. For example, in May 2021 there was a merger between Indonesia-based Gojek, which operates in the ride-hailing and deliveries business, and Tokopedia, an e-commerce
platform. 9
In our segments and markets, the barriers to entry are low and driver- and merchant-partners and consumers may choose alternative platforms or services. Our competitors may adopt certain of our product features, or may adopt innovations that consumers or driver- or merchant-partners value more highly than ours, which could render the offerings on our platform less attractive or reduce our ability to differentiate our offerings. The driver-partners may shift to the platform with the highest earning potential or highest volume of work, and the merchant-partners may shift to the platform that provides the lowest fees and commissions or the highest volume of business or other opportunities to increase profitability. Driver- and merchant-partners and consumers may shift to the platform that otherwise provides them with the best opportunities. Consumers may access driver or merchant goods or services through the lowest-cost or highest-quality provider or platform or a provider or platform that provides better choices or a more convenient technology platform. With respect to our platform, driver- and merchant-partners and consumers may shift to other platforms based on overall user experience and convenience, tools to enhance profitability, integration with mobile and networking applications, quality of mobile applications, and convenience of payment settlement services. In our deliveries segment, we face competition from regional players such as Foodpanda, ShopeeFood and Gojek (primarily in Indonesia) and single market players in Southeast Asia, including Deliveroo in Singapore, Baemin in Vietnam, Line Man Wongnai and Robinhood in Thailand. In addition, many chain merchants have their own online ordering platforms and pizza companies, such as Domino’s and other merchants often own and operate their own delivery fleets. Consumers also have other options through offline channels such as
in-restaurant
and take-out
dining, and buying directly from supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores, which may have their own delivery services. Our platform also competes with last-mile package delivery services including on-demand
services such as Gojek and Lalamove, and single market players such as AhaMove in Vietnam. In our mobility segment, we face competition from Gojek in Indonesia, and certain other Southeast Asian countries, licensed taxi operators such as ComfortDelGro in Singapore, bonku, Hello Phuket Service, Bolt in Thailand and traditional ground transportation services, including taxi-hailing. In addition, consumers have other options including public transportation and personal vehicle ownership. In the Philippines, the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (“LTFRB”) recently lifted the moratorium on the acceptance of accreditation applications for transport network corporations (“TNCs”) to promote healthy competition among TNCs. Since such lifting, two other companies have been accredited by the LTFRB as TNCs in the Philippines. There may also be additional competition in this market due to the enactment of Republic Act No. 11659, which removed the foreign ownership restriction on public utilities (including TNCs). The removal of the requirement that TNCs have at least 60% Filipino ownership may result in new foreign competitors entering the Philippines market.
While our payments and financial services offerings compete with offline options such as cash and credit and debit cards, interbank transfers, traditional banks and other financial institutions, as well as other electronic payment system operators, our competitors in digital payment services also include ShopeePay and Google Pay and single market players such as Dana and GoPay in Indonesia, Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia and GCash in the Philippines. Some of these competitors in digital payment services also operate
e-commerce
businesses. This may affect our e-wallet
usage (specifically OVO and GrabPay) on these platforms due to preferential treatment that may be afforded to entities related to our competitors. In addition, while we have a non-competition
agreement with Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”), which was put in place in connection with a transaction with such shareholder and contractually restricts them from competing with us in Southeast Asia, such agreement is subject to limited terms. Uber previously operated in the ride-hailing and food deliveries businesses in Southeast Asia prior to our acquisition of Uber’s business in Southeast Asia in 2018. The non-competition
agreement with Uber expires on the later of March 25, 2023, or one year after Uber disposes of all shareholdings in us. We also had a non-competition
agreement with Didi Chuxing Technology Co. (“Didi”), which was put in place in connection with a transaction with such shareholder. However, such non-competition
agreement with Didi has formally expired upon the closing of the Business Combination in December 2021. Although the expiration of the non-competition
agreement with Didi has not had any material impact on our business to date, if Didi enters, or Uber re-enters,
our markets, we could face more intense competition, which could in turn materially impact our ability to bring driver- and merchant-partners and consumers onto our platform, cause us to lose market share, impact our pricing and/or require us to increase our incentives in order to retain market share. Furthermore, both Uber and Didi could have certain competitive advantages compared to other new entrants into our markets given their familiarity with the markets as our shareholders, and in the case of Uber, due also to our previous operations in Southeast Asia prior to our acquisition of Uber’s business in Southeast Asia. Any failure to successfully compete could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
10
We have incurred net losses in each year since inception and may not be able to continue to raise sufficient capital or achieve or sustain profitability.
We incurred net losses of $3.6 billion, $2.7 billion and $4.0 billion and had net cash outflows from operating activities of $938 million, $643 million and $2.1 billion, in the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We invest significantly in our business, including, among others, (i) expanding the deliveries, mobility and financial services offerings on our platform; (ii) increasing the scale of the driver- and merchant-partner base and consumer base accessing offerings on our platform; (iii) developing and enhancing our superapp, (iv) enhancing the tools that we provide for the driver- and merchant-partners, our payments network and other technology and infrastructure and (v) recruiting of quality industry talent. We are also developing our business across 480 cities in Southeast Asia, where each country has different infrastructure, regulations, systems and user expectations, with a strategy that involves a hyperlocal approach to our operations, all of which requires more investment than if we only operated in one country and a smaller number of cities. Our offerings such as GrabRentals and GrabKitchen require us to make investments and develop scale in order to achieve profitability. To be competitive in certain markets, generate scale and increase liquidity, from time to time we lower fees and offer driver-partner, merchant-partner and consumer incentives, which also reduce our revenue. The
COVID-19
pandemic has also had a material adverse impact on certain parts of our business in 2020, 2021 and 2022 up till the date of this annual report and may continue to impact our results. We will continue to require significant capital investment to support our business. Issuances of equity or convertible debt securities could cause existing shareholders to suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities issued may have rights, preferences, and privileges superior to those of existing shareholders. Debt financing could contain restrictive covenants relating to financial and operational matters including restrictions on the ability to incur additional secured or unsecured indebtedness that may make it more difficult to obtain additional capital with which to pursue business opportunities. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, our liabilities exceeded our assets by $6.3 billion and $4.2 billion as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Furthermore, we had accumulated losses of $14.4 billion, $10.5 billion and $8.0 billion as of December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. To support our business plans, we raised $6.9 billion, $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion of cash during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, through the issuance of convertible redeemable preference shares, a term loan and PIPE financing. The aforesaid convertible redeemable preference shares were canceled and converted into the right to receive Ordinary Shares upon completion of the Business Combination and as a result, following completion, we no longer recognize any liability component nor any interest expense incurred with respect to such convertible redeemable preference shares. In the first half of 2021, we secured $2.0 billion of financing under the Term Loan B Facility and we secured PIPE proceeds of $4.04 billion in December 2021. As a result of the capital we have raised and the cash and cash equivalents we have on hand, our assets exceeded our liabilities by $8.0 billion as of December 31, 2021. Based on these factors, together with an assessment of our business plans, budgets and forecasts, our management has been able to conclude that it is appropriate for our consolidated financial statements to be prepared on a “going concern” basis.
Any failure to increase our revenue, manage the increase in our operating expenses, continue to raise capital, manage our liquidity or otherwise manage the effects of net liabilities, net losses and net cash outflows, could prevent us from continuing as a going concern or achieving or maintaining profitability.
Our ability to decrease net losses and achieve profitability is dependent on our ability to reduce the amount of partner and consumer incentives we pay relative to the commissions and fees we receive for our services.
We have paid significant amounts of incentives to attract new driver- and merchant-partners and consumers to our services, or to encourage existing registered driver-partners to return to driving on our platform, in order to grow our business and generate new demand for our services and may continue to do so in the future. These incentives, which are typically in the form of additional payments made to partners and consumers, have in the past exceeded, and may in the future exceed, the amount of the commissions and fees that we receive for our services. In addition, from time to time merchant-partners may offer incentives to consumers to drive demand for their products and services on our platform, which may have the effect of reducing the portion of overall incentives paid by us. Conversely, to the extent that merchant-partners are less willing to provide such incentives, we may need to increase our incentives to keep our platform attractive. Our revenues are reported net of partner and consumer incentives, so if incentives exceed our commissions and fees received, it can result in us reporting negative revenue. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we incurred incentives of $1.8 billion, $1.2 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively (comprised of partner incentives of $0.7 billion, $0.6 billion, and $1.2 billion, respectively, and consumer incentives of $1.1 billion, $0.6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively) resulting in reductions to our reported revenues of the same amounts, which in the case of the year ended December 31, 2019 resulted in us reporting negative revenues of $(0.8) billion. Notwithstanding our use of significant incentive payments to grow our GMV, our monthly transacting users nevertheless declined to approximately 24.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from approximately 24.5 million and 29.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The decline in monthly transacting users during the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was primarily driven by a decrease in users of our mobility services as a result of various degrees of
COVID-19
related travel restrictions imposed across Southeast Asia. 11
Our ability to increase our revenues and, in turn, decrease our net losses and achieve profitability is therefore significantly dependent on our ability to effectively use incentives to encourage the use of our platform and over time to reduce the amount of incentives we pay to both our driver and merchant partners and consumers of our services relative to the amount of commissions and fees we receive for our services. If we are unable to reduce the amount of incentives we pay over time relative to the commissions and fees we receive, we will likely impact our ability to increase our revenues, raise capital, reduce our net losses and achieve profitability and reduce our net cash outflows, any or all of which could prevent us from continuing as a going concern or achieving or maintaining profitability. In addition, given our use of incentives to encourage use of our platform, future decreases in the use of incentives could also result in decreased growth in the number of users and driver- and merchant-partners or an overall decrease in users and driver- and merchant-partners and decreases in our revenues, which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to numerous legal and regulatory risks that could have an adverse impact on our business and prospects.
We operate across the deliveries, mobility and financial services segments in 480 cities in the large, diverse and complex Southeast Asian region. Each of our segments is subject to various regulations in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate.
Focus areas of regulatory risk that we are exposed to include, among others: (i) evolution of laws and regulations applicable to deliveries, mobility and/or financial services offerings, (ii) various forms of data regulation such as data privacy, data localization, data portability, cybersecurity and advertising or marketing, (iii) gig economy regulations, (iv) anti-trust regulations, (v) economic regulations such as price, supply regulation, safety, health and environment regulations, (vi) foreign ownership restrictions, (vii) artificial intelligence regulation and (viii) regulations regarding the provision of online services, including with respect to the internet, mobile devices and
e-commerce.
In addition, we may not be able to obtain all the licenses, permits and approvals that may be necessary to provide our offerings and those we plan to offer. Because the industries we operate in are relatively new and disruptive in our market, the relevant laws and regulations, as well as their interpretations, are often unclear and evolving in certain jurisdictions. This can make it difficult for us to assess which licenses and approvals are necessary for our business, or the processes for obtaining such licenses in certain jurisdictions. For these reasons, we also cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain the licenses and approvals that we have previously obtained, or that we will be able to renew them should they expire. We cannot be sure that our interpretations of the rules and regulations, including our reliance on applicable regulatory exemptions have always been or will be consistent with those of the local regulators. As we expand our businesses, and in particular our financial services business, we may be required to obtain new licenses and will be subject to additional laws and regulations in the markets we plan to operate in.
Our business is subject to regulations from various regulators within each jurisdiction we operate in, and such regulators may not always act in concert. As a result, we may be subject to requirements which, individually, may not be materially adverse to us but when taken together could have a material impact on us. In addition, we are subject to differing, and sometimes conflicting, laws and regulations in the markets in which we operate.
12
Segments of our businesses that are currently unregulated could become regulated, or segments of our businesses that are already regulated could be subject to new and changing regulatory requirements. Various proposals that may impact our business are currently before various national, regional, and local legislative bodies and regulatory entities regarding issues related to our business operations and business model. For example, in Thailand, new regulations were recently enacted that regulate how we calculate fees (including commissions chargeable to our driver-partners) and transportation fares (i.e. car size must match pricing as prescribed by ride-hailing laws regulating GrabCar), which may adversely affect the operation of some of our offerings that were commenced before the effective date of these new regulations. In Malaysia, our
e-hailing
services are regulated by the Land Public Transport Agency and we are required to obtain an intermediation business license in order to operate as an e-hailing
operator. According to the relevant guidelines, there is a cap on the amount of commission that we may charge our driver-partners. In Singapore, there are regulations in respect of point-to-point passenger transport services for journeys by motor vehicles within, or partly within, Singapore. Under the regulatory framework, we are required to obtain and maintain the requisite ride-hail service license from the Land Transport Authority in order to provide ride-hailing services in Singapore. Additionally, under new regulations governing the transportation business in Vietnam, we may be required to obtain a transport license in each province or city where mobility services are provided through our platform. We are currently engaging with national-level as well as provincial and city-level regulators on this requirement, which poses practical constraints for implementation, given that we believe these requirements are not appropriate or suited to a platform business such as ours. Pending the outcome of these engagement efforts, including how this requirement may be addressed under the new regulations, we may be required to make operational adjustments to comply with the necessary regulatory requirements or even shut down the affected services, in order to avoid incurring penalties (in the form of fine and/or imprisonment) or disruptions in operations, which could involve significant costs or may not be practicable. In the Philippines, TNCs are required to apply for accreditation before being allowed to operate. The accreditation is valid for two years and may be renewed, canceled, or suspended. Accredited TNCs are also subject to performance reviews every six months. These regulations expose our operations to periodic regulatory risk. The LTFRB also prescribes the fares that TNCs are allowed to charge and failure to comply could lead to the imposition of penalties. Apart from fare setting, the LTFRB also regulates the mode of payment, the imposition of other fees (like cancellation fees) and also the number of transportation network vehicle services (“TNVS”) that may be given certificates of public convenience by the LTFRB. Since 2018, the allowed number has remained at 65,000. Apart from these regulations, there have also been calls for specific legislation to be crafted for TNCs/TNVSs. Bills for such specific legislation has been filed in the Philippine legislature, which, if enacted, would increase our costs of regulatory compliance in the Philippines. Compliance with existing or new laws and regulations could expose us to liabilities or cause us to incur significant expenses or otherwise impact our offerings or prospects. For example, in Malaysia, we were granted a Class C license in 2018, which allows GrabExpress to provide intra-state domestic courier service only in one state. In order for us to operate GrabExpress on a nationwide scale, we are required to obtain a Class B license. Our application for such license was rejected due to a moratorium on new applications. As a consequence, we are not allowed to deliver
non-food
items weighing less than two kilograms on an inter-state basis, although we are still allowed to deliver food and fresh produce and non-food
items weighing more than two kilograms. In addition, any non-compliance
resulting from our consumers using GrabExpress to ship non-food
items weighing less than two kilograms on an inter-state basis, over which we have no control, could subject us to a penalty of MYR300,000 (approximately $73,000) and/or incarceration of no more than three years. In addition, in Malaysia, the government is introducing new regulations on two-wheel p-hailing
(parcel deliveries via e-hailing).
When enacted, we and our driver partners will need to obtain necessary licenses, and will need to meet certain operational requirements to qualify for these licenses. Depending on the regulatory requirements, if the transition period for our driver partners to comply with and apply for the necessary license is too short, we may experience a shortage of driver partners on our platform for a period of time. Similarly, in Vietnam, we are required to obtain a postal license for delivery of documents weighing two kilograms or below and currently, we are still in process for obtaining such postal license. Failure to comply may result in a financial penalty of VND30,000,000 (approximately $1,334) and a disgorgement of revenues earned, and the competent authority may order suspension or termination of this delivery business. In Thailand, the Royal Decree on the Supervision of Digital Platform Service Business (the “ETDA Law”), issued by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (the “ETDA”), was approved on October 25, 2021 by the cabinet of Thailand and is currently under review by the Council of State (the “COS”) after a public hearing was held on January 11, 2022 to gather comments from the affected platform service providers in each industry, including us, in order to make sure that the ETDA Law will not create the excessive burden on platform service providers. Subsequently, the ETDA revised the ETDA Law and held another public hearing from March 10, 2022 to March 25, 2022 to collect comments for the COS to consider. The ETDA Law will be effective 240 days from the date of publication in the Royal Gazette. If, despite any revision to the ETDA Law our business as a platform service provider or certain of our businesses in Thailand are still considered by the ETDA to be “digital service platform businesses” regulated under the ETDA Law, our businesses in Thailand may be adversely affected because the ETDA Law gives the ETDA broad discretion to enforce the terms of the ETDA Law and to protect consumers of digital platform businesses. The ETDA’s enforcement powers include the ability: (i) to order suspension and/or discontinuation of businesses if any breach of the ETDA Law is not remedied; (ii) to order digital platform services providers to share information including potentially commercially sensitive information with consumers and other government agencies; (iii) to impose additional obligations on digital service platform businesses; (iv) before any digital services platform business providers can exit the businesses that the ETDA has jurisdiction over, to take any action to protect or prevent any damage which may be potentially incurred by consumers; and (v) to coordinate with other governmental agencies such as the Trade Competition Commission Thailand if there is any breach of the Trade Competition Act B.E. 2560. However, the exact impact the ETDA Law may have on us is unclear and will depend on the approach that the ETDA takes with respect to enforcing this law when it eventually becomes effective, and we intend to actively monitor and engage with the ETDA both prior to and after the law becomes effective in order to manage the impact on us, if any. 13
There also has been pressure on governments in Southeast Asia to increase or introduce new taxes on the technology sector as it becomes a more important and profitable portion of the economy. For example, in the Philippines, the House of Representatives has approved a bill imposing 12% value-added tax (“VAT”) on the sale of digital services, which is defined as any service delivered or subscribed over the internet or other electronic network and cannot be obtained without use of information technology. The statutory taxpayer of the VAT would be the seller or digital service provider. Once the bill becomes law, it will result in additional taxes imposed on our business.
In addition, as we expand our offerings in new areas, such as financial services and mapping or geospatial technology, we may become subject to additional laws and regulations, which may require licenses to be obtained for us to provide new offerings or continue to provide existing offerings in the relevant jurisdictions. Further, developments in environmental regulations, such as those applicable to vehicles that run on fossil fuels and those limiting the use of
single-use
packaging and utensils, may adversely impact our mobility and delivery businesses. For instance, the Singapore Government has recently announced the Singapore Green Plan 2030, which sets out a series of targets pertaining to the environment and sustainable development. Among other targets, the Singapore Green Plan provides that new registrations of diesel cars and taxis will cease from 2025, and all new car and taxi registrations are required to be of cleaner-energy models (such as electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell cars) from 2030. We are subject to laws and regulations that impose general requirements and provide regulators with broad discretion in determining compliance with such laws and regulations. Regulators may interpret laws and regulations in a manner differently than us and may have broad discretion in determining any sanctions or remedial measures. Many jurisdictions in which we operate currently do not require a commercial taxi license or delivery license for the driver-partners on our platform. However, local regulators may decide to enforce or enact local regulations requiring licenses, imposing caps on drivers or vehicles, mandating drivers to join a licensed entity or which impose other requirements, such as minimum age requirements for driver-partners. For instance, in Singapore, all private-hire car drivers (which includes our driver-partners) are required to obtain a Private Hire Car Driver’s Vocational License (the “PDVL”), and applicants are required to meet certain eligibility criteria. Among other things, the requirements set out by the Land Transport Authority include that the applicant must be a Singapore citizen, be at least 30 years old, and have at least one year of driving experience at the time of application. There are also regulations with respect to how fares are set between us and such special rental (i.e. car rental with driver) transportation companies and regulations requiring delivery driver-partners to join licensed courier companies prior to providing delivery services through a platform such as ours. If regulations evolve or regulators change current policy or enforce local regulations, we may face added complexity and risks in providing deliveries and mobility offerings on our platform. In addition, regulators in some jurisdictions impose a cap on both the supply and fares applicable to our operations, and although we have in the past been able to obtain approval to increase capacity when needed, there can be no assurance that we will continue to obtain approval to increase capacity to meet demand, which could impact our business and prospects. If we or drivers become subject to further caps, limitations, or licensing requirements, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects would be adversely impacted. In certain jurisdictions, there has been public pressure to impose limits on the commissions payable by merchant-partners to platforms such as our platform, which, if imposed, could impact our deliveries business.
point-to-point
In addition, since we operate across eight countries, we are subject to the risk that regulatory scrutiny or actions in one country may lead to other regulators taking similar actions in other countries. We, with our significant and varied group of stakeholders, are highly visible to regulators across our markets. Dissatisfaction among stakeholder groups could trigger regulator intervention, impacting our business.
14
Our actual or perceived failure to comply with applicable regulations could expose us to regulatory actions, including, but not limited to, potential fines, orders to temporarily or permanently cease all or some of our business activities, a prohibition on taking on new consumers, driver-partners or merchant-partners and the implementation of mandated remedial measures. For example, in the Philippines, despite having complied with our undertakings, the Philippine Competition Commission (“PCC”) has perceived that we have not complied with our refund obligations to the ride-hailing public and have threatened to impose fines. Any such actions could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our brand and reputation are among our most important assets and are critical to the success of our business.
Our brand and reputation are among our most important assets. “Grab” is a household name in the markets in which we operate that is synonymous with our offerings. Successfully maintaining, protecting, and enhancing our brand and reputation are critical to the success of our business, including the ability to attract and maintain employees, driver- and merchant-partners and consumers accessing offerings available on our platform, and otherwise expand our deliveries, mobility and financial services offerings. Our brand and reputation are also important to our ability to maintain our standing in the markets we serve, including with regulators and community leaders. Any harm to our brand could lead to regulatory action, litigation and government investigations and weaken our ability to effect legislative changes and obtain licenses. In addition, because we operate regionally across Southeast Asia and various segments, including deliveries, mobility and financial services, an adverse impact on our brand or reputation in one market or segment can adversely affect other parts of our business.
A variety of factors and/or incidents, including those that are actual and within our control, as well as those that are perceived, rumored, or outside of our control or responsibility, can adversely impact our brand and reputation, such as:
| • | complaints or negative publicity, including those related to personal injury or sexual assault cases involving consumers using our mobility offerings or other third parties; |
| • | issues with the choices and quality of our products and offerings or trust in our offerings; |
| • | illegal or inappropriate behavior by employees, consumers or driver-partners or merchant-partners or other third parties we work with, including relating to the safety of consumers and driver- and merchant-partners; |
| • | improper, unauthorized, or illegal actions by third parties who conduct fraudulent or other activities, such as phishing-attacks; |
| • | the convenience and reliability of our superapp and technology platform, as well as any cybersecurity incidents affecting, disruptions to the availability of or defects in our platform or superapp; |
| • | issues with the pricing of our offerings or the terms on which we do business with platform users including consumers and driver- and merchant-partners; |
| • | service delays or failures, such as missing, incorrect or canceled fulfillment of orders or rides, or issues with cleanliness, food tampering or inappropriate or unsanitary food preparation, handling or delivery; |
| • | lack of community support, interest or involvement, including protests or other negative publicity that may stem from a variety of factors beyond our control, such as the general political environment or a rise in nationalism in any of the markets where we operate; |
| • | failing to meet public or market expectations and act responsibly or in compliance with regulatory requirements, some of which may be evolving or ambiguous, in areas including labor, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, safety and security, data security, privacy, provision of information about consumers and activities on our platform, or environmental requirements in areas including emissions, sustainability, human rights, diversity, non-discrimination and support for employees, driver- and merchant-partners and local communities; and |
| • | media or legislative scrutiny or litigation or investigations by regulators or other third parties. |
We recently discovered that due to a calculation error we had been incorrectly charging a small number of our merchants in one of our countries a commission on the value added tax component of their orders processed through our app, and are in the process of refunding these merchants the additional commission charged, the aggregate amount of which is not material to us. Any harm to our brand or reputation, including as a result of or related to any of the foregoing, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
15
The
COVID-19
pandemic has materially impacted our business, is still ongoing, and it or other pandemics or public health threats could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The ongoing
COVID-19
pandemic has globally resulted in loss of life, business closures, restrictions on travel, and widespread cancellation of social gatherings, has impacted and continues to impact our business, and has impaired the fair value of certain of our investments, goodwill and the recoverable value of our vehicles. In particular, our business segments were impacted as follows: | • | Deliveries year-on-year stay-at-home COVID-19 pandemic. In light of growing demand, we invested in scaling up offerings, such as GrabMart, GrabSupermarket and GrabExpress. However, as the pandemic subsides and governments ease COVID-19 measures, demand for deliveries offerings may decline or may not continue to grow at similar levels. Furthermore, although our deliveries segment experienced significant overall growth, the pandemic led to closures of many restaurants and merchant-partners, and many of our partners are still struggling due to substantial declines in dine-in eating and demand in general. To the extent this impacts the breadth of options available to consumers through our platform, usage of our platform could be impacted, which could in turn impact the attractiveness of and level of activity across our ecosystem of consumers, and driver- and merchant-partners using our platform. |
| • | Mobility year-on-year stay-at-home COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted and generally reduced the supply of driver-partners for our mobility business. In 2021, our mobility business continued to be impacted by increases in COVID-19 cases in our markets, including due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and related reinstatement of movement control orders and other social distancing measures. In markets where stay-at-home pre-pandemic levels and the supply of driver-partners continues to be adversely impacted. In addition, in order to comply with social distancing requirements and improve safety, we from time to time modify or suspend certain offerings, such as our GrabShare and GrabHitch offerings, particularly as governments modify rules or guidelines in order to combat the pandemic. There can be no assurance that demand and supply for our mobility offerings will return to pre-pandemic levels or that we will resume all of our mobility offerings in the near future or at all in all of our markets. |
| • | Financial Services off-platform spending and other COVID-19 measures, which partially offset growth in deliveries-related payments, impacting growth in payment volume. However, from 2020 to 2021, our financial services business experienced significant year-on-year pre-Interco TPV growth and revenue growth driven by strong performance in deliveries transactions, although this growth was partially offset by the drop in demand for mobility offerings. In addition, our lending business was impacted by COVID-19, driven by closures of businesses, a decline in general consumer spending, and compulsory repayment holidays implemented by governments in certain of our markets. While new lending opportunities emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example Quick Cash for MSMEs in Thailand, we also took a more conservative approach to loan origination as we were mindful of the potential effect of COVID-19’s economic impact on creditworthiness of consumers and merchant-partners, and we delayed the marketing plans of certain insurance products such as travel insurance due to reduced travel. |
The extent to which the
COVID-19
pandemic will continue to impact our business going forward depends on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, including: | • | the occurrence of new COVID-19 strains and other new developments that may emerge concerning the severity of the disease; |
| • | the efficacy of current and future vaccines and treatments and the speed of vaccine or treatment roll-outs; |
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| • | the duration and nature of stay-at-home |
| • | the economic impact of the pandemic in the markets in which we operate, which could impact demand for offerings or opportunities on our platform by consumers and driver- and merchant-partners; |
| • | the continued provision of support and relief to small businesses, residents and economic activity by governments in the countries in which we operate, such as in Singapore and Malaysia where the government has implemented substantial and comprehensive support measures that have benefited the population, including consumers and driver- and merchant-partners; |
| • | government measures, intervention or subsidies, or increased government scrutiny with respect to our business or industry, which could impact, among other things, the competitive landscape in our markets and cause us to incur unforeseen expenses; |
| • | other business disruptions that affect our workforce; |
| • | the impact on capital and financial markets; |
| • | impairment charges associated with goodwill, long-lived assets, investments and other acquired intangible assets; and |
| • | other unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. |
Our ability to mitigate the impact of or movement control orders and other or movement control orders have been lifted, the emergence of new
COVID-19
on our overall business has been partly driven by our ability to adapt to changes in consumer demand and preferences and the versatility of our platform. For example, as demand in our mobility segment decreased, we were able to utilize driver-partners providing mobility services to provide deliveries for our deliveries segment. In addition, stay-at-home
COVID-19
measures led to a decrease in the number of active driver-partners in March and April 2020, and also in the third quarter of 2021 due to similar COVID-19
measures in response to a new wave of COVID-19.
While the number of driver-partners has gradually recovered in markets where stay-at-home
COVID-19
variants and related reinstatement of movement control orders and other social distancing measures continue to impact the recovery of the driver-partner supply on our platform. However, significant uncertainty remains over the severity and duration of the COVID-19
pandemic, and as the pandemic continues, or if other public health threats arise in the future, we may need to continue to adapt to changing circumstances. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing so, including by maintaining and optimizing utilization of the driver-partner base. In 2020, we also contributed to a special relief fund for driver-partners in Singapore to supplement driver income temporarily, which consisted of government-funded support and, during the initial phase of the fund, a weekly fixed payment from us. To the extent we deem it necessary in the future to take similar or other measures to assist the driver-partners or other partners in the future, our financial results may be adversely impacted. We also undertook a reduction in our labor force in June 2020, which affected approximately 360 employees, in an effort to manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
In addition, we have taken and continue to take active measures to promote health and safety, including, among others, implementing GrabProtect, a suite of safety and hygiene measures for our mobility offerings, to protect the driver-partners and passengers, providing for
no-contact
deliveries, and working with driver-partners to take safety measures such as mask wearing, vehicle cleaning and disinfecting, temperature checks, and hand washing and sanitizing. However, our efforts may not be successful and may not provide sufficient protection from COVID-19
or similar public health threats in the future, or such efforts may not continue to be enough to promote consumer and driver- and merchant-partner confidence. In connection with public health threats, we may also be required to temporarily close our corporate offices and have our employees work remotely, as we have done in connection with the COVID-19
pandemic, which may impact productivity and may otherwise disrupt our business operations. The current outbreak of COVID-19
has resulted in a widespread global health crisis and adversely affected global economies and financial markets, and similar public health threats could do so in the future. Such events have impacted, and could in the future impact, demand for our offerings, which in turn, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Since our inception in 2012, we have experienced rapid growth in our employee headcount, the number of consumers and driver- and merchant-partners using our platform, our offerings and the geographic reach and scale of our operations. We have also expanded both through acquisitions and strategic partnerships. This expansion increases the complexity of our business and has placed, and will continue to place, significant strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions. In certain jurisdictions, our risk management function, particularly relating to enterprise-wide risk management and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, are in relatively early stages of development and therefore we may be unable to identify, mitigate and remediate risks as they develop. We may not be able to manage our growth effectively, which could damage our reputation and negatively affect our operating results. Properly managing our growth will require us to establish consistent policies across regions and functions, as well as additional localized policies where necessary. A failure to effectively develop and implement any such policies could harm our business. In addition, as we expand, if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing, and integrating new employees and staff to help manage and operate our businesses, or if we are not successful in retaining our existing employees and staff, our business may be harmed.
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To manage the growth of our operations and personnel and improve the technology that supports our business operations, our financial and management systems, disclosure controls and procedures, and our internal control over financial reporting, we are required to commit substantial financial, operational, and technical resources. In particular, upgrades to our technology or network infrastructure are critical in supporting our growth, and without effective upgrades, we could experience unanticipated system disruptions, slow response times, or poor experiences for consumers, driver- and merchant-partners. We are in the process of establishing, developing, or upgrading various management systems, such as our contract management system, inventory management systems, and ERP and billing systems, to more efficiently and effectively organize and track our activities and obligations. As our operations continue to expand, our technology infrastructure systems will need to be scaled to support our operations. In addition, our organizational structure is complex and will continue to grow as our platform is used by additional consumers and driver- and merchant-partners, and as we add employees, products and offerings, and technologies, and as we continue to expand, including through acquisitions and strategic partnerships, which may include expansion into business activities where we have limited experience, such as offline businesses, or no experience at all. If we do not manage the growth of our business and operations effectively, the quality of our platform and the efficiency of our operations could suffer, which could materially and adversely affect our brand and reputation and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are subject to various laws with regard to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and have operations in certain countries known to experience high levels of corruption. Our audit and risk committee led an investigation into potential violations of certain anti-corruption laws related to our operations in one of the countries in which we operate and have voluntarily self-reported the potential violations to the U.S. Department of Justice. There can be no assurance that failure to comply with any such laws would not have a material adverse effect on us.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws in the jurisdictions in which we do business and may also be subject to such laws in other jurisdictions under certain circumstances, including, for example, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”). These laws generally prohibit us and our employees from improperly influencing government officials or commercial parties in order to, among other things, obtain or retain business, direct business to any person, or gain any improper advantage. Under applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, we could be held liable for acts of corruption and bribery committed by third-party business partners, representatives, and agents who acted on our behalf. We have operations in, and have business relationships with, entities in countries known to experience high levels of corruption. We and our third-party business partners, representatives, and agents may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities, and we are subject to the risk that we could be held liable for or be inadvertently involved in the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party business partners and intermediaries and our and their respective employees, representatives, contractors, and agents, notwithstanding that we do not authorize such activities and have put in place policies, procedures and systems to prohibit and avoid the furtherance of such activities and manage such risks. Our employees frequently consult or engage in discussions with government officials in the markets where we operate with respect to potential changes in government policies or laws impacting our industries and have engaged in joint ventures and other partnerships with state-owned enterprises or government agencies, which potentially heighten such anti-corruption-related risks. In addition, our activities in certain countries with high levels of corruption enhance the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by driver-partners, consumers, merchant-partners, shippers or carriers, employees, consultants, or business partners in violation of various anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, even though the actions of these parties are often outside our control and notwithstanding that we do not authorize such activities and have put in place policies, procedures and systems to prohibit and avoid the furtherance of such activities and manage such risks. While we have policies and procedures intended to address compliance with such laws, there is no guarantee that such policies and procedures are or will be fully effective at all times, and our employees and agents may take actions in violation of our policies and procedures or applicable laws, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. For example, our audit and risk committee led an investigation into potential violations of certain anti-corruption laws related to our operations in one of the countries in which we operate and have voluntarily self-reported the potential violations to the U.S. Department of Justice. The country did not represent a material portion of our revenue and total assets in 2020 or 2021, and while no conclusion can be drawn as to the likely outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice matter, currently we are not aware of any other contemplated or pending investigations or litigation related to the potential violations that may have a material impact on us.
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Additional compliance requirements may compel us to revise or expand our compliance program, including the procedures we use to verify the identity of platform users and monitor international and domestic transactions. Any violation of applicable anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws could result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, harm to our reputation and brand, investigations, imposition of significant legal fees, severe criminal or civil sanctions, suspension or debarment from government licenses, permits and contracts, forced exit from an important market or business segment, substantial diversion of management’s attention, a drop in our Class A Ordinary Share and Warrant prices, or other adverse consequences, any or all of which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are required to reclassify drivers as employees or otherwise, or if driver-partners and/or employees unionize, there may be adverse business, financial, tax, legal and other consequences.
The independent contractor status of drivers is currently being challenged in courts, by government agencies,
non-governmental
organizations, groups of drivers, labor unions and trade associations all around the world. Driven in part by developments in the United States and Europe, there has been growing interest in this area recently from regulators in Southeast Asia, where we operate. The tests governing whether a driver is an independent contractor or an employee vary by governing law and are typically highly sensitive to certain factors including, among others, changes in public opinion and political conditions. We believe that the driver-partners are independent contractors based on existing employment classification frameworks, because, among other things, they: (i) can choose whether, when, where, and the manner and means to provide services on our platform; (ii) are able to provide services on our competitors’ platforms; (iii) have each acknowledged and agreed when signing up to our terms and conditions that their relationship with us does not constitute an employment relationship; (iv) may provide their own vehicles to perform services and, in some jurisdictions such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, are also able to rent cars (as lessees) from any rental company or us, if needed; (v) pay a commission; and (iv) earn delivery or service fees (after deduction of commission and platform usage fee and so on) rather than wages or other fixed amount of income for delivering services to our consumers or merchant-partners. Changes to laws or regulations governing the definition or classification of independent contractors, or judicial decisions regarding independent contractor classification, could require reclassification of driver-partners as employees (or workers or quasi-employees where those statuses exist), and if so, we would be required to incur significant additional expenses for compensating driver-partners, potentially including expenses associated with the application of wage and hour laws (including minimum wage (which may include requirements to pay wages for periods when a driver-partner is offline or not driving through our platform), overtime, and meal and rest period requirements), employee benefits (including requirements with respect to statutory contribution, compulsory insurance and trade union fees), taxes, and penalties. In addition, a determination that driver-partners are employees or ostensible agents could lead to claims, charges or other proceedings under laws and regulations applicable to employers and employees, such as claims of joint employer liability or agency liability, harassment and discrimination, and unionization. New employment classifications could be created and applied to the driver-partners, with additional requirements imposed on us beyond current requirements. Any such reclassification or new classifications could have a significant impact on our labor costs, business operations and employee relations, and an adverse effect on our business and financial condition. In Thailand, the Ministry of Labor (the “MOL”) and the Council of State are working on a draft of the Freelancer Act aimed at protecting gig workers (including our driver-partners in Thailand) and freelancers. The MOL is also planning to set up a committee to draft subordinate regulations under the same Act to require digital platform service providers/operators to take certain actions to protect digital platform labor. The draft of the Freelancer Act was recently approved on December 28, 2021 by the cabinet of Thailand. The effective dates of the Freelancer Act and its subordinate regulations remain uncertain. We currently expect that the MOL may expedite the promulgation of the aforesaid laws because certain drivers, including our driver-partners, staged a few citywide protests in January and February 2022 to demand an increase in their income. In the Philippines, while there is no law or regulation expressly classifying drivers or riders as employees, there is a risk that the prevailing tests to determine the existence of an employer-employee relationship may be interpreted such that the drivers or riders will be considered employees. The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) has, through DOLE Labor Advisory No. 14, Series of 2021, provided for the tests to be applied in determining whether a rider engaged in food delivery or courier services is considered an employee and the labor standards they would be entitled to once determined to be an employee. While there are bills pending before the Philippine House of Representatives that seek to expressly classify drivers as “independent contractors” or “service providers” (and, therefore, not employees of the company), the risk will remain until these bills become law. 19
Although our position with respect to the independent contractor status of driver-partners has generally been upheld in relevant jurisdictions, we continue to face challenges from driver-partners alleging employee status in certain jurisdictions. For example, a driver-partner has filed a judicial review in the High Court in Malaysia to quash the Minister of Human Resources’ refusal to refer her unfair dismissal claim against our subsidiary to the Industrial Court of Malaysia. Although the High Court has rejected the judicial review application, the driver-partner has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, and the appeal is pending. The final outcome of the case could set a precedent with respect to the classification of driver-partners for companies such as us. If the appeal is successful, the case will be heard by the Industrial Court and if the Industrial Court finds that driver-partners should be considered employees, we could be liable for various payroll-related obligations with respect to these employees, and could be subject to the unionization and other risks described below. Furthermore, we have historically strived to provide driver-partner benefits and privilege schemes including offering support to partners during the
COVID-19
pandemic. Such benefits may in certain cases go beyond any statutory requirements and are used to both acquire and encourage the frequent use of our platform by driver-partners as well as to demonstrate to stakeholders and regulators that we are a responsible and good partner to our platform users. However, despite such efforts, regulators may deem our benefits and welfare schemes insufficient and impose additional requirements on companies such as us or change relevant laws or regulations. Policies could change due to, among others, driver welfare concerns with respect to matters such as income protection and certainty, long-term financial condition, professional development, the need for health or other insurance, retirement benefits, the need for fair working conditions and the desire to provide a forum to voice opinions and complaints, and we may not be successful in defending the independent contractor status of drivers in some or all jurisdictions in the future. The costs associated with defending, settling, or resolving pending and future lawsuits relating to the independent contractor status of the driver-partners could be material to our business. In addition, even if we are successful in defending such independent contractor status, governments may nevertheless impose additional requirements on us with respect to our independent contractors. For example, informal requests from government regulators to increase insurance coverage and to explore providing minimum wages for driver-partners in certain jurisdictions could increase costs. In the Philippines, there is pending legislation that would make it mandatory for TNCs to maintain commercial liability insurance policy to cover claims involving the vehicles and its drivers for an amount to be determined by the LTFRB after consultation with stakeholders. Although we are working closely with certain regulators to address these concerns, including discussing new categories of employment to cater to the needs of gig economy workers in a financially sustainable manner for platform companies such as us, we may not be successful in these efforts or be able to do so without impacting consumer experience. In Singapore, the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers formed by the Ministry of Manpower in September 2021 is considering forming a union for gig workers to represent their concerns in the event of disputes, and making it mandatory for the platforms to make contributions to the statutory contribution accounts of gig workers. We may need to incur substantial additional expenses to provide additional benefits to our independent contractors if required or requested by regulators.
Furthermore, the driver-partners and/or employees could unionize and unionization could lead to inefficiencies in implementing policy or other changes or otherwise cause us to incur increased costs, including legal and other associated costs and adversely impact consumer experience. If the driver-partners and/or employees unionize and invoke collective bargaining powers, the terms of collective bargaining agreements could materially adversely affect our costs, efficiency, ability to generate acceptable returns on the affected operations, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, disputes with driver-partners and/or employees over union and collective bargaining issues could be disruptive and harm our reputation.
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If we are unable to continue to grow our base of platform users, including driver- or merchant-partners and consumers accessing our offerings, our value proposition for each such constituent group could diminish, impacting our results of operations and prospects.
Our success in a given geographic market depends on our ability to increase the scale of the driver- and merchant-partner base and the number of consumers transacting through our platform as well as expand the deliveries, mobility and financial services offerings on our platform. A key focus of our growth strategy has been to develop our superapp to create an ecosystem with synergies driving more users on both the supply and demand sides to our platform. This ecosystem, and the synergies within our ecosystem, take time to develop and grow, because doing so requires us to replicate our efforts in 480 cities in Southeast Asia, where each country has different infrastructure, regulations, systems and user expectations and preferences, as well as a different approach to localizing our operations. Although we believe there are strong synergies among our business segments that help increase the breadth, depth and interconnectedness of our overall ecosystem, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that may impact the attractiveness of our ecosystem, including the following:
| • | If consumers are not attracted to our platform or choose deliveries, mobility or financial services providers outside of our platform, we may be unable to attract driver- and merchant-partners to our platform, which in turn means consumers using our platform may have fewer choices and may not be able to obtain better value options thereby making our platform less attractive to consumers. Consumers choose our platform based on many factors, including the convenience of our superapp, trust in the services offered through our platform as well as our technology platform and the choices and quality of our products and offerings. A deterioration in any of these factors could result in a decline in the number of consumers using the offerings on our platform, or the frequency with which they use such offerings. |
| • | If driver-partners are not attracted to our platform or choose not to offer their services through our platform, or elect to offer them through a competitor’s platform, we may lack a sufficient supply of driver-partners to attract and retain consumers and merchant-partners to our platform. Driver-partners choose us based on many factors, including the opportunity to earn money, the flexibility and autonomy to choose where, when and how often to work, the tools and opportunities we provide to seek to maximize productivity and other benefits that we provide to them. Lockdowns relating to COVID-19 have also negatively impacted driver-partner supply in certain jurisdictions. It is also important that we maintain a balance between demand and supply for mobility services in any given area at any given time. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience driver-partner supply constraints or oversupply from time to time in certain areas (including certain areas or locations within cities). To the extent that we experience driver-partner supply constraints in a given market, we may need to increase, or may not be able to reduce, the driver-partner incentives that we offer. |
| • | If merchant-partners, such as restaurants, convenience and grocery stores, multinational franchises and lifestyle service providers, are not attracted to our platform or choose to partner with our competitors, we may lack a sufficient variety and supply of options, or lack access to the most popular merchant-partners, such that the offerings on our platform will become less appealing to consumers and the driver-partners will have fewer opportunities to provide services. The merchant-partners choose us based on many factors, including access to the consumer base and delivery and payment network available through our platform, the tools and opportunities we provide to enhance their profitability and the opportunity to leverage our data insights. We seek to leverage off the strong consumer base using our platform in our deliveries and mobility segments to grow our financial services and other businesses. |
The number of consumers using our platform may decline or fluctuate as a result of many factors, including dissatisfaction with the operation and security of our superapp or consumer support, pricing levels, dissatisfaction with the deliveries, mobility, financial services or other offerings or quality of services provided by the driver- and merchant-partners and negative publicity related to our brand or reputation, including as a result of safety incidents, driver or community protests or public perception of our business. In April 2018, we experienced a platform-wide disruption that impacted the availability of our deliveries and mobility offerings for several hours. This disruption was the result of a systems failure by a third-party service provider that impacted our platform. We also experienced a similar disruption in December 2019 and November 2021. If similar incidents occur in the future, consumer satisfaction could be impacted, which in turn could impact the balance of our ecosystem.
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The number of driver- and merchant-partners on our platform may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including ceasing to provide services through our platform, passage or enforcement of local laws regulating, restricting, prohibiting or taxing the services and offerings of the driver- and merchant-partners, the low costs of switching to alternative platforms, dissatisfaction with our brand or reputation, our pricing model (including potential reductions in incentives) or other aspects of our business. In August 2019, personal information of some of the driver-partners was exposed to other driver-partners. Additionally, driver or community protests, which have occurred in some of our markets from time to time, could also negatively impact driver perception of us or our industry and impact our ability to recruit and maintain our base of driver- and/or merchant-partners.
In addition, the synergies we seek to realize from having a superapp-led ecosystem may not materialize as we expect them to or in a cost-effective manner. For example, we expect our superapp strategy to benefit from developing and growing our financial services offerings, which we believe will be linked to lower driver- and merchant-partner and consumer acquisition costs and increased consumer engagement, retention and spending. Further, social engagement applications may encroach on the offerings of transactional applications such as ours.
Any inability to maintain or increase the number of consumers or driver- or merchant-partners that use our platform or a failure to effectively develop our superapp could have an adverse effect on our ability to maintain and enhance our ecosystem, as well as the synergies within our ecosystem, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Security, privacy, or data breaches involving sensitive, personal or confidential information could also expose us to liability under various laws and regulations across jurisdictions, decrease trust in our platform, and increase the risk of litigation and governmental investigation.
Our business involves the collection, storage, processing, and transmission of a significant amount of personal and sensitive data, such as that of driver- and merchant-partners, consumers, employees, job candidates and other third parties. From time to time, we may also engage third-party vendors to collect data and other insights that are then used by us in our business operations. We are subject to numerous laws and regulations designed to protect such data. Laws and regulations that impact our business, and particularly laws, regulations and other measures governments may take based on privacy and data protection concerns, are increasingly strict and complex, change frequently and at times are in conflict among the various jurisdictions where we do business. For example, Thailand’s new Personal Data Protection Act is expected to become fully enforceable on June 1, 2022 and new data privacy legislation has been discussed by governments in certain other jurisdictions where we operate. In certain jurisdictions there are laws and regulations that restrict the flow of data outside the country which may also constrain our activities and require the use of local servers. We may also be required to disclose personal data about an individual to a public agency, where the disclosure is necessary in the public interest, or for the purposes of policy formulation or review. Some of these disclosures may put us in a disadvantaged position, especially if the provided data is repurposed for another intent, or adequate protection is not accorded to such data. As such laws increase in their complexity and impose new requirements, we may be required to incur increased costs to comply with data privacy laws and could incur penalties for any
non-compliance
or breaches. These laws may also limit how we are able to use data. For more information regarding relevant laws and regulations we are subject to, see “Item 4. Information on the Company – B. Business Overview – Regulatory Environment.” From time to time we implement measures in order to protect sensitive and personal data in accordance with our contracts, data protection laws and consumer laws. However, we may be subject to data breach incidents, including where data breach incidents are suffered by third parties that we contract or interact with, that often involve factors beyond our control. We have notified data protection authorities of data breaches and data protection authorities have also opened investigations involving or brought enforcement actions against us. For example, in March 2017, two GrabHitch driver-partners in Singapore separately posted the personal data of one of their passengers on a public Facebook page. The PDPC investigated the incident and found that we were in breach of the relevant data privacy obligations despite the fact that GrabHitch driver-partners provide the GrabHitch carpooling service in a personal capacity. The PDPC ordered us to provide detailed guidance for our GrabHitch driver-partners on the handling of personal data of their passengers and to communicate relevant policies to them, and we have since implemented remedial actions to educate them. The PDPC has issued other enforcement decisions as well as penalties against us for breaching our protection obligation under Singapore data protection law, and in the Philippines, the National Privacy Commission has taken action relating to some of our data processing activities. We remain subject to the risk that further incidents of this type could occur in the future. We also rely on third-party service providers to host or otherwise process some of our platform users’ data in certain jurisdictions and we may have limited control or influence over the security policies or measures adopted by such third-party service providers. Any failure by a third party to prevent or mitigate security breaches or improper access to, or disclosure of, such information could have adverse consequences for us.
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Although we maintain, and are in the process of improving, internal access control mechanisms and other security measures to ensure secure and appropriate access to and storage and use of our sensitive, business, personal, financial or confidential information by anyone including our employees, contractors and consultants, these mechanisms may not be entirely effective, or fully complied with internally. As part of periodic reviews carried out by us, we have identified, and in the future may identify, data protection issues requiring remediation with respect to such measures that require us to further update our compliance functions. In particular, we may be at risk of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information, including any data sharing within our group. Any misappropriation of personal information, including credit card or banking information, could harm our relationship with consumers and driver- and merchant-partners and cause us to incur financial liability and reputational harm. If any person, including any of our employees, improperly breaches our network security or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates driver-partner, merchant-partner or consumer personal or sensitive data, we could be subject to regulatory actions and significant fines for violating privacy or data protection and consumer laws or lawsuits for breaching contractual confidentiality or data protection provisions which could result in negative publicity, legal liability, loss of consumers or driver- or merchant-partners and damage to our reputation. We are an attractive target of data security attacks by third parties that may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or platform users to disclose information to gain access to our data or the data of platform users. A successful attempt could lead to the compromise of sensitive, business, personal, financial, credit card, banking or other confidential information, which could result in significant liability and a material loss of revenue resulting from the adverse impact on our reputation and brand, a diminished ability to retain or attract new platform users and disruption to our business.
Because the techniques used by an individual or a group to obtain unauthorized access, make unwarranted alteration to our data and source codes, disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems are often complex, not easily recognizable and evasive, we may not be able to anticipate these techniques and implement adequate preventative measures. Such individuals or groups may be able to circumvent our security measures (including, but not limited to, via phishing attacks, malware infection, system intrusion, misuse of systems, website defacement, and DDoS attacks) and may improperly access or misappropriate confidential, proprietary, or personal information held by or on behalf of our Company, disrupt our operations, damage our computers, or otherwise damage our business. Although we have developed, and continue to develop, systems and processes that are designed to protect our servers, platform and data, including personal and sensitive data of the driver-partners, merchant-partners, consumers, employees, job candidates and other third parties, we cannot guarantee that such measures will be effective at all times. Our efforts may be hindered due to, for example, government surveillance, regulatory requirements or other external events; software bugs or other technical errors or issues; or errors or misconduct of employees, contractors or others; a rapidly evolving threat landscape; and inadequate or failed internal processes or business practice. While we invest significant resources to protect against or remediate cybersecurity threats or breaches, or to mitigate the impact of any breaches or threats, we may still be subject to potential liability above the amounts covered by our insurance.
Any of the foregoing could subject us to regulatory fines, scrutiny and actions, including, but not limited to, orders to temporarily or permanently cease all or some of our business activities, a prohibition on taking on new consumers, driver-partners or merchant-partners and the implementation of mandated remedial measures, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our financial services business may not ultimately be successful and could subject us to additional requirements, risks and regulations.
We have expanded, and plan to continue to expand, our financial services offerings and platform. These offerings include services such as digital banking, payments, lending, receivables factoring, insurance distribution and wealth management. For example, we now provide credit products, including financing for the driver- and merchant-partners, purchase financing, cash loans, a receivables factoring “PayLater” option for consumers through GrabFinance, and wealth management products through GrabInvest services. Expanding our financial services offerings requires us to engage in activities such as education of driver- and merchant-partners, building awareness of our financial services offerings, attracting and retaining talent with relevant financial services skills, entering into arrangements with new partners, and also exposes us to risks including, among others, credit risk, counterparty risk, regulatory risk, compliance and reputational risks.
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In addition, the intersection of finance and digital services is a relatively new phenomenon but one that has attracted significant regulatory attention. For instance, in the Philippines, the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP” or the Philippine Central Bank) has approved the inclusion of digital banks as a distinct classification of banks along with guidelines for their establishment. The BSP, however, issued a moratorium on the issuance of licenses for digital banks until 2024. Our business is subject to laws that govern payment and financial services activities and we may face challenges in obtaining and maintaining licenses and regulatory approvals and in managing relationships with regulators. As we evolve our business, we may be subject to additional laws or requirements related to money transmission, lending, consumer protection, online payments, and other financial regulation. These laws govern, among other things, money transmission, prepaid access instruments, electronic funds transfers, anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, lending, consumer protection, banking, systemic integrity risk assessments, cybersecurity of payment processes, and import and export restrictions. Additionally, our “PayLater” offering, which allows consumers to pay for products or services within a certain period after the relevant transaction, involves the factoring of receivables of merchant-partners for their customers. Recently, regulators in certain jurisdictions, including Singapore and Malaysia, have been reviewing buy now, pay later offerings with a view to limiting consumer overspending and adoption of fair dealing practices, among other things. There can be no assurance that regulators will not impose requirements or curbs on such offerings and any such requirements or curbs could adversely impact us. For example, the regulator in Singapore, MAS, is exploring the possibility of self-regulation through industry guidelines. However there remains the possibility that tougher mandatory regulation may be implemented if such self-regulation is unsuccessful. We are subject to regulatory audits in all markets where we operate financial services businesses for which we are licensed, and such audits carry the risk that regulators could allege violations or view our continued participation in the market, as an overseas company, undesirable, and impose sanctions, penalties or withdraw our licenses.
Further, we maintain licensing relationships with all major credit card providers, and any contractual disputes over fees or other violations may result in restrictions or withdrawal of one or more scheme’s services. Furthermore, our financial services business and the use of such services have historically relied significantly on our deliveries and mobility segments, as consumers often use GrabPay to pay for deliveries and mobility services offered through our platform. The expansion of our financial services business will depend to a large extent upon our ability to continue to grow the use of our financial services for uses outside of our deliveries and mobility segments and for
off-platform
usage. As a new entrant in the financial services industry, we face intense competition with existing banks and financial services providers that may have greater experience, better access to capital, a lower cost of capital and more resources than we have. We will also compete against other new entrants, which, in Singapore, include NYSE-listed Sea Ltd. (which was also selected for the award of a digital full bank license) and Ant Group Co. Ltd. and a consortium led by Greenland Financial Holdings Group Co. Ltd. that were selected for the award of digital wholesale bank licenses. Our ability to achieve or maintain market acceptance for our financial services and products are affected by a number of factors, such as the community’s level of trust in digital financial services and products being provided by a company that is not a traditional financial institution, entrenched preferences in traditional payment methods, insufficient use cases for our digital payment services and lack of infrastructure support locally. Moreover, even if there is adequate acceptance of our digital financial services and products, our business will continue to be subject to the changing needs and demands of users, which may change for a multitude of reasons such as availability of alternative payment methods that are more popular or widely accepted by the population.
Any of the foregoing, including any failure to manage these risks, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Improper, dangerous, illegal or otherwise inappropriate activity by consumers or driver- or merchant-partners or other third parties could harm our business and reputation and expose us to liability.
Due to the breadth of our operations that span across a wide variety of consumers, driver- and merchant-partners and other third parties in 480 cities in Southeast Asia, we are exposed to potential risks and liabilities arising from improper, dangerous, illegal or otherwise inappropriate actions by a wide variety of persons that we have no control over. Although we have implemented certain measures in order to ensure both partner and consumer safety, such measures may not be effective or adequate and any such actions may result in adverse consequences, such as nuisance, property damage, injuries, fatalities, business interruption, brand and reputational damage or significant liabilities for us.
Although there are generally certain qualification processes in place for the driver- and merchant-partners, including background checks on driver-partners, these qualification processes may not bring to light all potentially relevant information and would not bring to light events occurring after the qualification process is complete. In certain jurisdictions, available information may be limited by applicable laws or limited generally, and we (or third-party service providers we use to conduct background checks) also may fail to conduct qualification processes adequately. Furthermore, we do not independently test the driving skills of the driver-partners or other relevant skills of our other merchant-partners.
In our mobility business, if the driver-partners or consumers engage in improper, dangerous, illegal or otherwise inappropriate activities, driver-partners and/or consumers may not consider offerings on our platform to be safe and we may otherwise suffer adverse consequences, such as liability due to bodily harm to other users of our platform, and other brand and reputational damage. For example, in Cambodia, most of our
two-wheel
and three-wheel driver-partners do not obtain (and in certain cases are not required to obtain) driver’s licenses, which could subject them and us to potential risks. In addition, merchant-partners in some of the countries in which we operate are not required to obtain food hygiene certificates or may only be subject to limited regulatory guidelines with regard to food safety and hygiene. In our financial services business, we may also be susceptible to potentially illegal or improper uses, which may include the use of our payment services in connection with fraudulent sales of goods or services, software and other intellectual property piracy, money laundering, bank fraud and prohibited sales of restricted products. If consumers or third parties providing financial services in partnership with us engage in improper, illegal or otherwise inappropriate activities while using our platform, other consumers and driver- and merchant-partners may also be unwilling to continue using our platform. Despite measures that we have taken to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent or other malicious activity on our platform, we cannot guarantee that our measures will be effective. Any of the foregoing activities, whether or not caused by or known to us, could harm our brand and reputation, result in litigation or regulatory actions, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are subject to risks associated with strategic alliances and partnerships.
We have entered into strategic alliances and partnerships with third parties and may continue to do so in the future. Such alliances and partnerships have included, among others, joint ventures or minority equity investments, such as our investments in the Digital Banking JV with Singtel and partnerships with strategic investors, including with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (“MUFG”) for certain digital financial services, such as payments and lending, and with Toyota in several areas related to supporting driver-based services. These alliances and partnerships subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with the sharing of proprietary information between parties,
non-performance
by us or our partners of obligations under relevant agreements, disputes with strategic partners over strategic or operational decisions or other matters, increased expenses in establishing new strategic alliances and non-compete
provisions under some of such arrangements which limit our ability to operate in certain market segments, the need to support or capitalize joint venture or associate entities and reputational risks from association with strategic partners, as well as litigation risks associated therewith. In addition, Singtel has the right to swap all (but not a portion) of its shares in the Digital Banking JV for shares of GFG if GFG pursues a public offering prior to an IPO of the Digital Banking JV, subject to the terms of the shareholders agreement for the Digital Banking JV and relevant consents being obtained from MAS in connection with the grant of the digital full bank license. Accordingly, we will experience dilution of our ownership of GFG if Singtel exercises its right to swap its shares in the Digital Banking JV for GFG shares. In addition, we have entered into a binding agreement with Singtel with respect to the Digital Banking JV that may result in Singtel’s swap of its shares in the Digital Banking JV for Class A Ordinary Shares. See “—Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure and Doing Business in Southeast Asia—We may issue additional securities without shareholder approval in certain circumstances, which would dilute existing ownership interests and may depress the market price of our shares.” 25
Furthermore, some of our strategic alliances and partnership agreements contain exclusivity provisions restricting us from providing a particular service outside of the strategic alliance or partnership in a particular jurisdiction. For example, we and MUFG have entered into an agreement for strategic collaboration under which we have granted MUFG’s affiliates in Thailand exclusivity with respect to the provision of certain financial products and services to the driver- and merchant-partners and consumers and we have also granted MUFG’s affiliates a right of first offer with respect to certain financial products and services in our markets in which we operate. Subject to certain exceptions and carve-outs, the shareholders agreement with Singapore Telecommunications Limited (“Singtel”) for the Digital Banking JV contains restrictions on investments in other digital banking and other financial services businesses as well as restrictions on operating certain banking and financial services businesses outside of the Digital Banking JV, in addition to restrictions that may be imposed by applicable regulations and in connection with the grant of the
in-principle
approval for the digital full bank license and grant of the digital full bank license, and (in the future) after approval to commence business is granted. The Digital Banking JV partners have agreed on a process for expanding digital banking and certain financial services into Southeast Asian jurisdictions beyond Singapore. Although we agree to such restrictions because we believe that the overall strategic alliance or partnership is to our benefit, such restrictions could adversely impact our growth prospects. Our entry into digital banking in Singapore through the Digital Banking JV is subject to risks.
In December 2020, the MAS selected our consortium with Singtel to be a potential recipient of a digital full bank license. In November 2021, MAS issued the banking license to the Digital Banking JV “GXS Bank” solely for the purpose of facilitating the necessary preparatory work. The Digital Banking JV is not allowed to commence any business activities, until it is operationally ready and has obtained MAS’s approval to do so. However, there can be no assurance that the Digital Banking JV will be successful in obtaining MAS’s approval to commence business activities, given that it is not yet in the final stages of the building phase in preparation for commencement of operations. The Digital Banking JV must meet all relevant prudential requirements and licensing conditions before the MAS grants the approval to commence business, and these requirements and
pre-approval
require substantial capital commitments from our shareholders, or may impose additional challenges, and give rise to regulatory and credit risks. In addition, the Digital Banking JV must comply with relevant banking regulations and other requirements on an ongoing basis. In particular, maintaining compliance with the MAS requirement of being “anchored in Singapore, controlled by Singaporeans and headquartered in Singapore” for it to be able to maintain the digital full bank license is subject to continuous regulatory review as our or GFG’s ownership and management control may evolve. Details of our corporate governance structures that became effective immediately upon consummation of the Business Combination have been shared and aligned with MAS’s expectations. However, MAS, at its sole discretion, may determine that future events cause the Digital Banking JV to no longer meet such requirement, which could have adverse consequences. These consequences may include but are not limited to the Digital Banking JV having our bank license suspended or revoked, or failing to obtain MAS’s approval to commence business. The MAS may take other actions to ensure that the Digital Banking JV is anchored in Singapore, controlled by Singaporeans and headquartered in Singapore. This could require us to sell or transfer existing shares in the Digital Banking JV to, or enter into proxy arrangements with, or could require the Digital Banking JV to issue new shares to, the joint venture partner, Singtel, or other Singapore citizens or entities. Furthermore, according to MAS’s eligibility criteria, among other requirements, holders of the digital full bank licenses will need S$1.5 billion (approximately $1.1 billion) in minimum paid-up
capital as well as additional capital to accommodate certain losses as determined by MAS. As such, the terms of the shareholders agreement with Singtel for the Digital Banking JV includes the obligation for us and our joint venture partner to make capital contributions to the Digital Banking JV of S$1.93 billion total (approximately $1.44 billion), which includes provision for retained losses. We believe both we and our joint venture partner, Singtel, each have sufficient cash resources to satisfy their respective obligations when due, and both parties have demonstrated to MAS that they have sufficient corporate funds to meet their respective funding obligations. We also have the obligation to indemnify our joint venture partner Singtel from and against certain losses resulting from breaches by us of undertakings to make committed capital contributions, undertakings given to the MAS or revocation of the digital full bank license or material restrictions being imposed on Digital Bank JV on account of an action taken by us and to indemnify bank customers against any shortfall in non-bank
deposits. In addition, upon certain events of default occurring, including a change of control of GFG before 2025, our joint venture partner Singtel may, subject to regulatory approval, sell its Digital Banking JV shares to us at a 20% premium over fair market value, or purchase our Digital Banking JV shares at a 20% discount to fair market value. 26
Our planned expansion of our digital banking business regionally remains subject to uncertainty and may cause our other group companies to be designated as financial holding companies and subject them to additional compliance, reporting and capital obligations.
In addition to Singapore, we plan to expand our digital banking business into other Southeast Asian countries. On June 30, 2021, we and a consortium of partners submitted an application for a digital banking license to Bank Negara Malaysia’s under its Licensing Framework for Digital Banks. We cannot assure you that our application will be approved. We commenced our expansion into Indonesia with the acquisition of a 16.26% equity interest in PT Bank Fama International in January 2022, and we are currently in the process of transferring such equity interest to our GXS Digital Bank. The transfer remains subject to regulatory approval in both Singapore and Indonesia.
As our digital banking business evolves, it is increasingly possible that one or more of our banking regulators would designate our other group companies as financial holding companies. Such requirements would in certain jurisdictions typically result in (i) increased information reporting requirements; (ii) increased capital provision on the regulated entity or its affiliates; (iii) increased restrictions on liabilities; and (iv) requirement to abide by regulatory directions on affiliates and the foreign holding companies in addition to the actual digital banking operations. While we plan to work closely with regulators to mitigate and manage any potential negative impact of such designation, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in reducing or managing any such negative impact.
We rely significantly on third-party cloud infrastructure services providers and any disruption of or interference with the use of our services could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our platform is currently hosted within data centers provided by third-party cloud infrastructure services providers. As the continuing and uninterrupted performance of our platform is critical to our success, any system failures of such third-party providers’ services could reduce the attractiveness of our platform and may adversely affect our ability to meet the requirements of consumers and driver- and merchant-partners when they are using our platform. Third-party cloud infrastructure services providers are vulnerable to damage or interruptions from factors beyond our or their control, including but not limited to computer viruses and other malicious code, attacks, cyber and ransomware attacks, phishing attacks,
denial-of-service
break-ins,
sabotage, vandalism, power loss or other telecommunications failure, fire, flood, hurricane, tornado or other natural disasters, software or hardware errors, failures or crashes and other similar disruptive problems. For example, one of our third-party infrastructure services providers suffered technical failures in March 2018 that caused the loss of a significant number of transactions over a period of several hours. In addition, in February 2021, GrabExpress orders were impacted due to system delays from one of our third-party infrastructure providers, affecting order fulfillment for GrabExpress deliveries for a period of approximately two hours. We expect that in certain jurisdictions, it may become increasingly difficult to ensure reliability of our platform as we expand and the usage of our platform increases. Any future disruptions could adversely impact user experience, create negative publicity harming our reputation, impact the quality, availability and speed of the services we provide as well as potentially violate regulatory requirements and fall short of regulatory expectations in relation to technology risk and business continuity risk management. Any of the foregoing could result in interruptions, delays, loss of data, cessations to our operations or in the provision of offerings through our platform and compensation payments to our partners and end consumers, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, under our agreements with our third-party cloud infrastructure services providers, we are required to meet certain minimum spending commitments. To the extent we fall short of meeting such commitments, we could be required by the relevant service provider to pay for the shortfall, which would cause us to incur additional expenses.
We may continue to be blocked from, or limited in, providing our products and offerings in certain markets, may contravene applicable laws and regulations and may be required to modify our business model in order to manage our compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Many markets in Southeast Asia may have laws and regulations that do not sufficiently contemplate or cover all of our business activities. As our business, business model, products, offerings and operations may be relatively new in these markets, the relevant laws and regulations, as well as their interpretations, may be unclear and evolving. This may make it difficult for us to assess which licenses, permits and approvals are necessary for our business, or the processes for obtaining such licenses, permits and approvals. This mismatch between our businesses and laws in the jurisdictions where we operate may also subject us to inconsistent, uncertain and arbitrary application of such laws and increased regulatory scrutiny. We may also proceed with business activities on a risk-weighted assumption that certain laws and regulations are invalid or inapplicable, which may not be the case. As part of our decision-making process in such circumstances, we have a cross functional team, which includes representatives from our governance, risk and compliance, legal, public affairs and public relations teams, that engages in considering such issues and making decisions that are consistent with our corporate culture (which includes sustainable growth and a strong focus on compliance) and common sense. We also, as part of our decision-making process, typically seek advice from local law firms with expertise on local regulatory considerations. In certain markets, we financed and provided offerings, either directly or through others with whom we had affiliations, while we are still assessing or considering the applicability of laws and regulations to those offerings or while we considered potential changes we may need to implement to comply with such laws and regulations. Our decision to continue operating in these instances has been subject to scrutiny by government authorities. There may have been instances where we were not in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or did not have all required licenses, permits and approvals needed to conduct the relevant business.
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We also cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain licenses, permits and approvals that we have previously obtained, or that, should they expire, we will be able to renew them. Our interpretations of laws and regulations and relevant exemptions also may not be consistent with those of the regulators. As we expand our businesses, and in particular our financial services business, we may be required to obtain new licenses, permits and approvals and will be subject to additional laws and regulations and uncertainties in the markets we plan to operate in.
Many of the markets in Southeast Asia have not developed a fully integrated regulatory regime, and recently enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in such markets, including, in particular, new or disruptive business models such as those in the technology sector. In Thailand, mobility services provided through online channels, including mobile applications such as our platform, are governed by laws that are broad, and as a result, our offerings could become subject to additional licensing or registration requirements at the discretion of relevant Thai regulators. On June 23, 2021, a Thai law governing ride-hailing became effective, and on September 29, 2021 and September 30, 2021, additional legislations implementing such law were enacted, which covers (i) pricing, (ii) application and ride-hailing operator certification, (iii) the
on-boarding
process of driver-partners, (iv) required decals to be placed on a ride-hailing vehicle, and (v) a determination of engine power of vehicles used to provide ride-hailing services. Our platform and the driver-partners are now required to comply with such new legislation, although we believe it may take time for many of the driver-partners to fully comply with the requirements of the new legislation. We believe that Thai regulators are aware that full compliance with the recently enacted legislation may take some time. However, if relevant Thai regulators begin to enforce such laws before we or the driver-partners gain full compliance, our supply of driver-partners in Thailand could be materially impacted, which could impact our ability to continue to operate our mobility segment in Thailand. The relevant Thai regulators are considering our application for a ride-hailing operator certification, and during the process may impose certain conditions, including discontinuing certain unregulated offerings available on our platform, such as GrabBike. Discontinuing unregulated offerings like GrabBike may have an impact on our business. While we expect that the Thai regulators will grant us the certification soon, there is no assurance that we will obtain the certification on a timely basis, or at all. In addition, a new Thai law became effective on July 1, 2021 that categorized GrabFood, GrabMart and GrabExpress as regulated online delivery services under the purview of the Thai Department of Control. This new law is expected to be supplemented by further implementing legislation that may implement pricing controls. Although we cannot currently assess the potential impact of such legislation until implementing legislation is in place, such legislation may result in restrictions on our ability to introduce new fees and/or adjust existing fees to properly reflect supply and demand. Furthermore, Thai regulators are studying the potential for the enactment of laws related to the control of commissions chargeable to merchant-partners, and the impact of any such potential laws on our business is uncertain. In Vietnam, we entered into a joint venture with a foreign partner to set up a company to operate a car rental and transportation services business but the government did not grant the relevant licenses to set up such a company due to an adverse interpretation of the foreign ownership limit of 49% for the transportation business. After unsuccessful attempts to obtain the relevant licenses, we decided to abandon our plans for this business. In Myanmar there are no specific regulations governing operators of ride-hailing booking platforms; and in Malaysia, there are no laws specifically governing operators of certain delivery service booking platforms such as GrabFood and GrabMart. Regulatory risks, including but not limited to the foregoing, could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In certain circumstances, we may not be aware of our violation of certain policies, laws and regulations until after the violation. Where regulators find that we have not obtained required licenses, permits and approvals, we may come under investigation or otherwise be subject to scrutiny by governmental authorities, may be subject to regulatory fines and penalties and, in certain cases, may be required to cease operations altogether, unless and until laws and regulations are reformed. The regulatory environment in Southeast Asia may also slow the growth of our business. We have incurred, and expect that we will continue to incur, significant costs in managing our legal and regulatory matters, including the ability to operate our business in our markets. 28
The proper uninterrupted functioning of our highly complex technology platform is essential to our business.
Our business depends on the performance and reliability of our system as well as the efficient and uninterrupted operation of mobile communications systems that are not under our control. Our superapp platform is a complex system composed of many interoperating components and incorporates software that is highly complex, and therefore, many events that are beyond our control may cause service interruptions or degradations or other performance problems across the whole platform, including but not limited to computer viruses and other malicious code, attacks, cyber and ransomware attacks, phishing attacks,
denial-of-service
break-ins,
sabotage, vandalism, power loss or other telecommunications failure, fire, flood, hurricane, tornado or other natural disasters, software or hardware errors, failures or crashes, and other similar disruptive problems. For example, in April 2018, we experienced a platform-wide disruption that impacted the availability of our deliveries and mobility offerings for several hours. We also experienced similar incidents in May and December in 2019 and November 2021 and experienced smaller scale disruptions or delays in 2020 and 2021. We may experience system failures and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce or affect the speed or functionality of our platform. Although we have certain disaster response procedures, we or our third-party service providers may not currently have a comprehensive business continuity framework in place in all instances. We are working with third-party consultants to develop a suitable business continuity framework, but there can be no assurance that such framework will be implemented in a cost-effective manner or at all, or that it will prove effective or meet all the expectations of our stakeholders, including our consumers, partners and regulators, both current and in the future, in relation to cybersecurity risk, technology risk and business continuity management, which may also impact our current and prospective licensing in certain jurisdictions. Our software, including third-party or open source software that is incorporated into our software code, may now or in the future contain undetected errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. Some errors in our software code may only be discovered after the code has been released. Bugs in our software, third-party software including open source software that is incorporated into our code, misconfigurations of our systems and unintended interactions between systems could result in our failure to comply with certain regulatory reporting obligations or compliance requirements or the introduction of vulnerabilities into our platform that may be exploited by cyber-attackers or third-parties engaging in fraudulent activities, or could cause downtime that would impact the availability of our platform, which could reduce the attractiveness of our platform to users, increase the likelihood of a successful cyber-attack or result in violations of regulators’ expectations of prescribed technology risk management practices. Cyber-attackers and third-parties engaged in fraudulent activities have in the past exploited vulnerabilities in our platform and may in the future continue to attempt to do so. If the measures we take to prevent these incidents from occurring are unsuccessful, we may incur losses from these fraudulent activities.
Disruptions in internet infrastructure, the absence of available mobile data or global positioning system signals or the failure of telecommunications network operators to provide us with the necessary bandwidth for our products and offerings could also interfere with the speed and availability of our platform. Our operations may also rely on virtual private network access in certain jurisdictions, such as China, where we have research and development operations.
Furthermore, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by national telecommunications operators. If mobile internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, consumer traffic may decrease, which may in turn cause our revenue to significantly decrease. Our operations also rely on various other third-party software and applications, including with respect to intragroup communications and online word processing, and disruptions with respect to our usage of any such software could cause business interruption. Furthermore, although we seek to maintain and improve the availability of our platform and to enable rapid releases of new features and services, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the availability of our platform, especially during peak usage times and as our platform becomes more complex and more products and services are offered through our superapp and user traffic increases. If our platform is unavailable when driver- and merchant-partners, consumers and/or platform users attempt to access it or it does not load as quickly as they expect or it experiences capacity constraints, users may seek other offerings including our competitors’ products or offerings, and may not return to our platform as often in the future, or at all. This could adversely affect our ability to maintain our ecosystem of driver- and merchant-partners and consumers and decrease the frequency with which they use our platform. We may not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade systems as needed, or develop technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology.
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Any of these events could significantly disrupt our operations, impact user satisfaction and in turn our reputation and subject us to liability, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business depends upon the interoperability of our superapp and platform with different devices, operating systems and third-party software that we do not control.
One of the most important features of our superapp and platform is the broad interoperability with a range of devices, operating systems, and third-party applications. Our superapp and platform are accessible from the web and from devices running various operating systems such as iOS and Android. We depend on the accessibility of our superapp and platform across these third-party operating systems and applications that we do not control. Moreover, third-party services and products are constantly evolving, and we may not be able to modify our platform to assure our compatibility with that of other third parties following development changes. The loss of interoperability, whether due to actions of third parties or otherwise, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
As new mobile devices and mobile platforms are released, there is no guarantee that certain mobile devices will continue to support our platform or effectively roll out updates to our applications. Additionally, in order to deliver high-quality applications, we need to ensure that our platform is designed to work effectively with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks, and standards. We may not be successful in developing or maintaining relationships with key participants in the mobile industry that enhance users’ experience. If consumers or driver- and merchant-partners that utilize our platform encounter any difficulty accessing or using our applications on their mobile devices or if we are unable to adapt to changes in popular mobile operating systems, platform growth and user engagement would be adversely affected.
We also depend on third parties maintaining open marketplaces, including the Apple App Store, Google Play and Huawei App Gallery, which make our superapp available for download. We cannot assure you that the marketplaces, through which we distribute our superapp, will maintain their current structures or that such marketplaces will not charge us fees to list our applications for download. If any such marketplaces cease making our superapp available, this would have a material adverse effect on our business.
In addition, we rely upon certain third parties to provide software or application programming interfaces (“APIs”) for our products and offerings, which are currently important to the functionality of our platform. If such third parties cease to provide access to such third-party software or APIs on terms that we believe to be attractive or reasonable, or do not provide us with the most current version of such software, we may be required to seek comparable solutions from other sources, which may be more expensive or inferior and/or adversely impact user experience. In some cases, such third-party commercial software may be difficult to replace, or become unavailable to us on commercially reasonable terms. Any such changes to or unavailability of third-party software or APIs could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property rights, or if third parties claim that we are misappropriating the intellectual property of others, we may incur significant costs and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.
Our brand value and technology, including our intellectual property, are some of our core assets. We protect our proprietary rights through a combination of intellectual property and contractual rights. These include patents, registered designs, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, license agreements, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with third parties, employee and contractor disclosure and invention assignment agreements, and other similar contractual rights. The efforts we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not be sufficient or effective. For instance, intellectual property laws, rules and regulations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which we currently operate. In addition, it may be possible for other parties to copy or reverse-engineer our products and offerings or obtain and use the content of our website without authorization. Further, we may be unable to prevent competitors from acquiring domain names or trademarks that are similar to, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our domain names, trademarks, service marks and other proprietary rights. In the event of any unauthorized use of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights by third parties, legal and contractual remedies available to us may not adequately compensate us. We primarily rely on copyrights and confidential information (including source code, trade secrets,
know-how
and data) protections, for the purposes of protecting our core technologies and proprietary databases, rather than registered rights such as patents. Further, the registration of intellectual property, especially across multiple jurisdictions, is costly, subject to complex laws, rules and regulations, and can be challenged by third parties, and we may choose to limit or not to pursue intellectual property registrations in the future. Our reliance on copyrights and confidential information protections, rather than registered intellectual property rights, may make it more difficult for us to protect some of our core technologies against third-party infringement and could increase the risk of third-party infringement actions against us. 30
We may also be unable to detect infringement of our intellectual property rights, and even if such violations are found, we may not be successful, and may incur significant expenses in protecting our rights. In addition, our competitors may independently develop technology or services that are equivalent or superior to our technology services. Any enforcement efforts may be time-consuming, costly and may divert management’s attention. Any failure to protect or any loss or dissolution of our intellectual property rights may have an adverse effect on our ability to compete and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Furthermore, as we face increasing competition and as our business grows, we may in the future receive notices that claim we have misappropriated, misused, or infringed upon other parties’ intellectual property rights. In addition, as our strategic alliances and partnerships at times involve sharing of intellectual property, we are subject to the risk of our partners alleging we have misappropriated or misused such partner’s intellectual property or our partners infringing our intellectual property.
Any intellectual property claims against us, regardless of merit, could be time consuming and expensive to settle or litigate, could divert our management’s attention and other resources, and could hurt goodwill associated with our brand. These claims may also subject us to significant liability for damages and may result in us having to stop using technology, content, branding, or business methods found to be in violation of another party’s rights. Certain adverse outcomes of such proceedings could adversely affect our ability to compete effectively in existing or future businesses.
We may also be required or may opt to seek a license for the right to use intellectual property held by others, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Even if a license is available, we may be required to pay significant royalties, which may increase our operating expenses. If alternative technology, content, branding, or business methods for any allegedly infringing aspect of our business are not available, we may be unable to compete effectively or we may be prevented from operating our business in certain jurisdictions. Any of these results could harm our business.
We may not be able to make acquisitions or investments, or successfully integrate them into our business.
As part of our business strategy, we have entered into and regularly pursue a wide array of potential strategic transactions, including strategic investments, alliances, partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions, in each case relating to businesses, technologies, services and other assets that we expect to complement our business or that we believe will help to grow our business. For example, in March 2018, we acquired Uber’s Southeast Asian business. In late 2018, we invested in OVO, a digital payments platform in Indonesia, and further increased our equity interest in OVO in October 2021. In January 2022 we completed the acquisition of a majority economic interest in Jaya Grocer Holdings Sdn. Bhd., a mass-premium supermarket chain in Malaysia (“Jaya Grocer”), and have made other acquisitions and investments which we believe will complement our business.
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These types of transactions involve numerous risks, including, among others:
| • | intense competition for suitable targets and partners, which could increase prices and adversely affect our ability to consummate deals on favorable or acceptable terms; |
| • | complex technologies, terms and arrangements, which may be difficult to implement and manage; |
| • | failures or delays in closing transactions; |
| • | difficulties integrating brand identity, technologies, operations, existing contracts, and personnel; |
| • | failure to realize the anticipated return on investment, benefits or synergies; |
| • | exclusivity provisions which prevent us from providing a particular service outside of the strategic alliance or partnership in a particular jurisdiction which could serve to limit access to business opportunities; |
| • | failure to identify the problems, liabilities, or other shortcomings or challenges of an acquired company, partner or technology, including but not limited to issues related to intellectual property, cybersecurity risks, regulatory compliance practices, litigation, security interests over assets, contractual issues, revenue recognition or other accounting practices, or employee or user issues; |
| • | expanding into business activities where we have limited experience, such as offline businesses, or no experience at all; |
| • | failure to retain key employees, to ensure that we can preserve value in the existing platform and avoid loss of institutional knowledge; |
| • | risks that regulatory bodies do not approve our acquisitions or business combinations or delay such approvals or other adverse reactions from regulators; |
| • | regulatory changes that require adjustments to our business or shareholding or rights in relation to subsidiaries or joint ventures; and |
| • | adverse reactions to acquisitions by investors and other stakeholders. Each acquisition will require management bandwidth to integrate, commensurate to the size and scale of the acquisition, which may distract our management from executing our existing roadmap. If we fail to address the risks or other problems encountered in connection with past or future transactions such as the foregoing, or if we fail to successfully integrate or manage such transactions, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. |
Any failure by us or our third-party service providers to comply with applicable anti-money laundering or other related laws and regulations could damage our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operation, or subject us to other risks.
Our payment and financial services related businesses, operations and systems may, in certain jurisdictions, be governed by laws and regulations related to payment and financial services activities, including, among other things, laws and regulations relating to banking, privacy, cross-border and domestic money transmission, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, electronic funds transfers, systemic integrity risk assessments, cybersecurity of payment processes, import and export restrictions and consumer protection. Our payment and financial services related activities may be susceptible to illegal and improper uses, including money laundering, terrorist financing, fraudulent sales of goods or services, and payments to sanctioned parties. These laws and regulations to which we are now, or in the future may be, subject to may be highly complex, vague, and could change and may be interpreted to make it challenging or impossible for us to comply with them. Moreover, activities in jurisdictions where we allow payments in cash may raise additional legal, regulatory, and operational concerns. Operating a business that uses cash may increase our compliance risks with respect to a variety of laws and regulations, including those referred to above. In addition, we may in the future offer new payment options that may be subject to additional regulations and risks. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, fines, and higher transaction fees, and we may not be able to continue to accept or process online payment, payment card or other related transactions, which could make offerings on our platform less convenient and attractive. In the event of any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
As our payments and financial services related businesses expand, we will need to continue to invest in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and to conduct appropriate risk assessments and implement appropriate controls. Government authorities may scrutinize or seek to bring actions against us if our systems are used for improper or illegal purposes or if our risk management or controls are not adequately assessed, updated, or implemented, and the foregoing could result in financial or reputational harm to our business.
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In addition, laws and regulations related to payments and financial services are evolving, and changes in such laws and regulations could affect our ability to provide services on our platform in the manner that we have done, expect to do, or at all. In addition, as we evolve our business or make changes to our operations, we may be subject to additional laws and regulations. Historical or future
non-compliance
with these laws and regulations could result in significant criminal and civil lawsuits, penalties, forfeiture of significant assets, or other enforcement actions. Costs associated with fines and enforcement actions, as well as reputational harm, changes in compliance requirements, or limits on our ability to expand our product offerings, could harm our business. We rely on our partnerships with financial institutions and other third parties for payment processing infrastructure and for the provision of services through our platform.
The convenient payment mechanisms provided by our superapp and platform are key factors contributing to the development of our business. We rely on strategic partnerships with financial institutions such as Visa and Mastercard and third parties such as Adyen and Stripe for elements of our payment-processing infrastructure to process and remit payments to and from consumers and driver- and merchant-partners using our platform. Although we may develop
in-house
payment processing capabilities, we will likely need to continue to rely on these strategic partnerships and third-party services. If these companies become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us on acceptable terms or at all, our business may be disrupted. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we generally pay interchange fees and other processing and gateway fees, and such fees result in significant costs. In addition, online payment providers are under continued pressure to pay increased fees to banks to process funds, and there is no assurance that such online payment providers will not pass any increased costs. If these fees increase over time, our operating costs will increase, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Failures of the payment processing infrastructure underlying our platform could cause driver- and merchant-partners to lose trust in our payment operations and could cause them to instead use our competitors’ platforms. If the quality or convenience of our payment processing infrastructure declines as a result of these limitations or for any other reason, the attractiveness of our business to driver- and merchant-partners could be adversely affected. For example, on November 11, 2020, during the “11.11 Sales Day” promotional period, we were unable to process GrabPay transactions for approximately fifteen minutes primarily due to delays with one of our payment processing partners. If we are forced to migrate to other third-party payment service providers for any reason, the transition would require significant time and management resources, and may not be as effective, efficient, or well-received by platform users.
Additionally, online payment providers require us to comply with payment card network operating rules, which are set and interpreted by the payment card networks. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or reinterpret existing rules in ways that might prohibit us from providing certain services to some users, be costly to implement, or be difficult to follow. If we fail to comply with these rules or regulations, we may be subject to fines and higher transaction fees and/or lose our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from consumers or facilitate other types of online payments. We have also agreed to reimburse our third-party payment processor for any reversals, chargebacks, and fines that are assessed by payment card networks if we violate these rules. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In addition, as a platform business, our business model generally provides a platform enabling driver- and merchant-partners and other third parties, such as insurance companies and financial institutions, to reach a broad base of consumers through our platform. To the extent such third parties use other means to reach consumers instead of our platform, our business could be adversely impacted as we do not provide the services offered through our platform ourselves.
Changes in, or failure to comply with, competition laws could adversely affect us.
Competition authorities closely scrutinize us. There has been increased scrutiny over the power and influence of big technology companies globally, and in particular, antitrust regulators in Southeast Asia have taken greater interest in potential abuses of market power or position by big technology companies. If one jurisdiction imposes or proposes to impose new requirements or restrictions on our business, other jurisdictions may follow. Further, any new requirements or restrictions, or proposed requirements or restrictions, could result in adverse publicity or fines, whether or not valid or subject to appeal.
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For example, in connection with, and following, Uber’s sale of its Southeast Asian business to us in March 2018, we faced, among others, public scrutiny from antitrust authorities in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (“CCCS”) directed us, among other things, to remove exclusivity arrangements,
lock-in
periods and termination fees with Singapore driver-partners, to maintain our pre-acquisition
fare algorithm and driver-partner commission rates and to pay a fine of S$6.42 million (approximately $4.8 million). In addition, there has been increased scrutiny from the CCCS in the online food delivery and virtual kitchen sectors, and if the CCCS assesses that any arrangements between us and the merchant-partners may be harmful to competition, the CCCS may take enforcement action against us that may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The CCCS has also stated in its E-commerce
Platforms Market Study Report dated September 10, 2020 that it continues to closely monitor key developments in the digital economy and the impact of these developments on competition and consumers in markets within Singapore. The Philippine Competition Commission (“PCC”) required a series of voluntary commitments from us in clearing the Uber acquisition and imposed a fine of approximately 56.5 million Philippine Pesos (approximately $1.2 million) on us for violating some of our pricing and service quality commitments after the merger with Uber. The Malaysian Competition Commission (“MyCC”) issued a proposed decision in October 2019 alleging that we had abused our dominant position in the ride-hailing booking and transit media advertising market through the imposition of a number of restrictive clauses on the driver-partners, including restrictions on driver-partners promoting competitors’ products and providing advertising services to third-party enterprises. Pursuant to the proposed decision, MyCC proposed a fine of approximately MYR86.8 million (approximately $21 million) and a daily fine of MYR15,000 (approximately $3,600) for each day we fail to take the remedial actions as directed by MyCC. The penalty is imposed in the event of failure to comply with the interim directions (“Proposed Decision Directions”). We believe we have complied with the said Proposed Decision Directions and should not be subject to the daily fines of MYR15,000. In addition, we submitted our written representation to MyCC in December 2019 and made our oral representation to MyCC in October 2020, challenging MyCC’s proposed decision on several grounds. The matter is pending the issuance of a final decision by MyCC. We at the same time have initiated a judicial review application against MyCC. At first instance, our leave application at the High Court for a judicial review of MyCC’s proposed decision was dismissed. However, the Court of Appeal reversed the High Court’s decision in denying our leave application and remitted the substantive hearing to be heard in the High Court. MyCC is applying for a ‘Stay Application’ to pause the substantive hearing in the High Court, as MyCC is appealing to the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision. The Stay Application at High Court was dismissed. Subsequently, the judicial review substantive hearing was scheduled on February 14, 2022, but on February 9, 2022, in the Federal Court, MyCC was granted an interim stay of the judicial review substantive hearing pending issuance of the Court of Appeal’s grounds of judgment. In Thailand, the Trade Competition Commission Thailand (“TCCT”) (previously named the Office of Trade Competition Commission) has placed increased scrutiny on the online food deliveries market and issued the Notification of the Trade Competition Commission in relation to Guidelines for consideration of unfair trade practices between food deliveries digital platform operators and restaurant operators effective from December 24, 2020. The notification provides certain guidelines that lay out practices of food deliveries platforms that may be considered as unfair trade practices and prohibits unfair fees, charges and trading conditions. The regulations provided in such notification are unclear, and their interpretation and implementation are subject to the sole discretion of the TCCT, which creates uncertainty. The TCCT is also studying the market structure of the online food deliveries market and monitoring business practices that tend to create a monopoly in that market. In Indonesia, the Indonesian Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (“KPPU”) was invited by the Ministry of Trade to discuss issues regarding unfair practices in the e-commerce
sectors that potentially harm businesses of small and medium sized enterprises in Indonesia. The KPPU was also invited to join the government special task force to supervise the implementation of fair competition in the e-commerce
sector. Antitrust regulators in certain Southeast Asian countries where we operate are also reviewing their framework and policies to deal with digital markets. For example, in Singapore, the CCCS revised its competition guidelines (which is effective from February 1, 2022) for greater clarity and guidance on issues and conduct that may be relevant in the digital era. In addition, governmental agencies and regulators may, among other things, prohibit future acquisitions, divestitures, or combinations that we plan to make or
re-evaluate
previous acquisitions, combinations, or restructuring completed by us in the past, impose significant fines or penalties, require divestiture of certain of our assets, or impose other restrictions that limit or require us to modify our operations, including limitations on our contractual relationships with platform users or restrictions on our pricing models. For example, although the COVID-19
pandemic has not resulted in any regulatory caps on pricing for our businesses, our pricing model, including dynamic pricing, could be challenged or limited in emergencies and capped in certain jurisdictions or become the subject of litigation and regulatory inquiries. As a result, we may be forced to change our pricing model in certain jurisdictions and in certain circumstances, which could harm our revenue or result in a sub-optimal
tax structure. In the Philippines, the PCC is pursuing the development of an Incentives Monitoring Framework (IMF) and plans to commission, at our cost, a technical expert to craft the IMF. The IMF will study the incentives, benefits, promotions, and rewards provided by us to ensure that they do not result in anti-competitive effects. 34
In addition, regulators in certain jurisdictions where we operate could scrutinize the Business Combination from a competition law perspective. In certain countries where we operate, competition laws may be new or relatively new, regulatory bodies may be new or have new mandates, and relevant laws and regulations, as well as their interpretations and application, may otherwise be unclear and evolving. This can make it difficult for us to assess (a) which notifications or approvals are required, or (b) the timing and processes for obtaining such approvals in light of the complex structure of the Business Combination. We could be subject to fines or penalties, lose credibility with regulators, be subject to other administrative sanctions or otherwise incur expenses and diversion of management attention or other resources, if any regulators choose to investigate us, or find that we have not made required notifications or filings in connection with the Business Combination.
Unfavorable media coverage could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects
We are the subject of regular media coverage. Unfavorable publicity regarding, among other things, our business model or offerings, user support, technology, platform changes, platform quality, privacy or security practices, regulatory compliance, financial or operating performance, accounting judgments or management team could adversely affect our reputation. Such negative publicity could also harm the size of our network and the engagement and loyalty of consumers and driver- and merchant-partners that utilize our platform, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Negative publicity could also draw regulator attention and lead to regulatory action or new laws or regulations impacting our business. In addition, the foregoing risks are increased by the widespread use of social media and the increasing incidence of fake or unsubstantiated news, particularly on social media and other online platforms.
As our platform continues to scale and public awareness of our brand increases, any future issues that draw media coverage could have an amplified negative effect on our reputation and brand. In addition, negative publicity related to key brands or influencers that we have partnered with may damage our reputation, even if the publicity is not directly related to us.
We rely on third-party background check providers to screen potential driver-partners and they may fail to provide accurate information.
All potential driver-partners are required to go through our security and safety screening background checks before being qualified as a driver-partner on our platform. We rely on third-party background check providers to provide the criminal and/or driving records of potential driver-partners in most of our markets to help identify those that are not qualified to use our platform pursuant to applicable law or our internal standards, and our business may be adversely affected to the extent such providers do not meet their contractual obligations, our expectations, or the requirements of applicable laws or regulations. If any of our third-party background check providers terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we may need to find an alternate provider, and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such partners in an acceptable timeframe, which in turn could lead to difficulty in onboarding sufficient numbers of driver-partners to meet consumer or merchant-partner demand. Further, if the background checks conducted by our third-party background check providers are inaccurate or do not otherwise meet our expectations, unqualified drivers may be permitted to conduct passenger trips or make deliveries on our platform, and as a result, we may be unable to adequately protect or provide a safe environment for consumers and merchant-partners. Inaccurate background checks may also result in otherwise qualified drivers from being inadvertently excluded from our platform. Our reputation and brand could be adversely affected and we could be subject to increased regulatory or litigation exposure. In addition, if the background checks conducted by our third-party background check providers do not meet the requirements under applicable laws and regulations, we could face legal liability or negative publicity.
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We are also subject to a number of laws and regulations applicable to background checks for potential and existing driver-partners that utilize our platform. If we or our third-party background check providers fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected, and we could face legal action. In addition, background check qualification processes may be limited in certain jurisdictions based on national and local laws, and our third-party service providers may fail to conduct such background checks adequately or disclose information that could be relevant to a determination of eligibility.
Any negative publicity related to any of our third-party background check providers, including publicity related to safety incidents or actual or perceived privacy or data security breaches or other security incidents, could adversely affect our reputation and brand, and could potentially lead to increased regulatory or litigation exposure. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our company culture has contributed to our success and if we cannot maintain and evolve our culture as we grow, our business could be materially and adversely affected.
We believe that our company culture, which was founded on the principle of creating a double bottom line business by delivering financial performance and social impact at the same time and promoting the values of heart, honor, humility and hunger, has been critical to our success. We face a number of challenges that may affect our ability to sustain our corporate culture, including:
| • | staying true to our values and withstanding competitive pressures to move in a direction that may divert us from doing so; |
| • | maintaining appropriate alignment between our values and the fiduciary duties that our directors have under Cayman Islands law to act in the best interests of the company; |
| • | failure to identify, attract, reward, and retain people in leadership positions in our organization who share our values; |
| • | negative perception of our treatment of employees, consumers or driver- and merchant-partners; and |
| • | maintaining our culture while integrating new personnel and businesses as we grow. |
If we are not able to maintain and evolve our culture, we may suffer consequences such as the inability to attract employees, consumers, driver- and merchant-partners and business partners and maintain and grow our business, and as a result our financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
We depend on talented, experienced and committed personnel, including engineers, to grow and operate our business, and if we are unable to recruit, train, motivate and retain qualified personnel, particularly in the technology sector, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
A fundamental driver of our ability to succeed is our ability to recruit, train and retain high-quality management, operations, engineering, and other personnel who are in high demand, are often subject to competing employment offers and are attractive recruiting targets for our competitors. Our senior management,
mid-level
managers and technology sector employees, including engineers, data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity specialists, product managers and designers are instrumental in implementing our business strategies, executing our business plans and supporting our business operations and growth. There is particularly acute competition for the technology sector and research and development employees in some of our markets. In addition, we depend on the continued services and performance of our key personnel. Our CEO and co-founder
Anthony Tan, co-founder
Tan Hooi Ling, President Maa Ming-Hokng, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey, Chief People Officer Ong Chin Yin, and Chief Operating Officer Alex Hungate and their involvement in our business are important to our success. Our key executives play a central role in the development and implementation of our business strategies and initiatives. Any decrease in the involvement of any of the key executives in our business or loss of key personnel, particularly to competitors, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The unexpected or abrupt departure of one or more of our key personnel and the failure to effectively transfer knowledge and effect smooth key personnel transitions has had and may in the future have an adverse effect on our business resulting from the loss of such person’s skills, knowledge of our business, and years of industry experience. Although our employment contracts contain non-compete
clauses, there is the risk that such non-compete
clauses may be deemed unenforceable under applicable law. In addition, OVO has experienced changes in its management and management attrition as certain senior executives have departed, and OVO may experience further changes to its management in the future, which could be disruptive to our business and impact our operating performance. 36
To attract and retain key personnel, we use equity incentives, among other measures, which may not be sufficient to attract and retain the personnel we require to operate our business effectively. As demand in the technology sector intensifies, we may be required to offer more in terms of cash or equity in order to attract and retain talent, which would increase our expenses. The equity incentives we use to attract, retain, and motivate employees may not be effective, particularly if the value of the underlying stock does not increase commensurate with expectations or consistent with our historical growth. In addition, in certain countries, the grant of equity incentive may be restricted, preventing us from delivering such incentives to personnel in the respective country. We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity to attract and retain new employees and expend significant time and resources to identify, recruit, train and integrate such employees, and we may never realize returns on these investments. If we are unable to attract and retain high-quality management and operating personnel, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our ability to recruit and retain talent at desired compensation levels could also be limited by government attitudes and policies, which at times may favor nationals of the country in which we do business rather than hiring talent from abroad, which could impact our talent pool and the costs associated with it. Travel and other restrictions imposed by governments to address
COVID-19
transmission rates may also harm our ability to recruit and retain nationals from outside Southeast Asia or the country where we are recruiting, and may require significant numbers of employees to work remotely, which may impact productivity. Our ability to recruit and retain talent and maintain good relations with our employees could also be impacted by employee activism over social, political or other matters, which could impact our relations with our employees. Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings in which we may be involved could expose us to monetary damages or limit the ability to operate our business.
We have been in the past, are currently, and may be in the future, involved in private actions, collective actions, class actions, investigations, and various other legal proceedings by driver- and merchant-partners, consumers, employees, commercial partners, competitors, or government agencies, among others, relating to, for example, personal injury or property damage cases, wrongful act, subrogation, employment or labor-related disputes such as wrongful termination of employment, consumer complaints, disputes with driver-partners and merchant-partners, contractual disputes with consumers or suppliers, disputes with third parties and regulatory inquiries or proceedings relating to compliance with competition and data privacy regulations. The results of any such litigation, investigations, and legal proceedings are inherently unpredictable and may be expensive. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, costly, and harmful to our reputation, and could require significant amounts of management time and corporate resources. Furthermore, we may be held jointly responsible for claims against third parties offering their services through our platform, including driver- or merchant-partners. If any of these legal proceedings were to be determined adversely to us, or we were to enter into any settlement arrangement, we could be exposed to monetary damages or be forced to change the way in which we operate our business, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In addition, we regularly include arbitration provisions in our terms of service with
end-users
and driver- and merchant-partners, and in certain markets include other provisions such as mediation provisions or, in Singapore, for certain disputes to be referred to the Small Claims Tribunal. These provisions are intended to streamline the dispute resolution process for all parties involved, as arbitration or other methods of alternative dispute resolution can in some cases be faster and less costly than litigation in court. However, arbitration or other methods of alternative dispute resolution may become more costly for us, or the volume of cases may increase and become burdensome. Further, the use of arbitration or other alternative dispute resolution provisions may subject us to certain risks to our reputation and brand, as these provisions have been the subject of increasing public scrutiny. To minimize these risks, we may voluntarily limit our use of arbitration or other alternative dispute resolution provisions, or we may be required to do so, in any legal or regulatory proceeding, either of which could increase our litigation costs and exposure in respect of such proceedings. 37
In July 2020, the Indonesian Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (“KPPU”) imposed a financial penalty of approximately $3.5 million on us based on allegations by driver-partners that preferential treatment in respect of rides was given to driver-partners that utilized our car rental plans. Although we were successful in our appeal in the first instance and KPPU’s subsequent appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court was dismissed in April 2021, we may be subject to similar actions in the future. In December 2020, the Malaysian Association of Taxi, Rental Car, Limousine and Airport Taxi filed a claim against us alleging, among other things, certain violations of transport and competition laws, and is seeking damages of approximately $24 million. Our application to dismiss the claim was allowed but the plaintiffs have filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal. The appeal is pending. In December 2018, we were assessed approximately 1.4 billion Philippine Pesos (approximately $29 million) in the Philippines for an alleged deficiency in local business taxes. We are contesting this assessment and our case remains under review by the regional trial court. In October 2018, a taxi driver filed a claim against the Thai regulator alleging that the Thai regulator omitted and neglected to perform its duties by allowing Grabtaxi (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (“Grabtaxi Thailand”) to operate GrabCar. Grabtaxi Thailand is a
co-defendant
in this case and we could be subject to potential liabilities as a result. The case is still pending. If Grabtaxi Thailand loses the case, it may be subject to a fine imposed by the regulator, and although ride-hailing through online channels has recently been legalized in Thailand, there can be no assurance that there would be no wider impact to our ride-hailing offering in Thailand from such case. In August 2020, Grabtaxi Thailand had its first meeting with the Trade Competition Commission Thailand (the “TCCT”) to discuss accusations that it had unfairly imposed exclusivity clauses on its merchant-partners. On March 3, 2022, Grabtaxi Thailand was officially informed that the case was closed and the TCCT had dropped the accusation in January 2022. Consequently, Grabtaxi Thailand can continue to operate its business with the exclusivity clauses in place, provided that they are mutually agreed upon and commercially justifiable, subject to additional guidelines to be provided by the TCCT. For additional details of certain legal proceedings involving us, see “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” In addition, we may face additional litigation in civil lawsuits initiated by competitors and merchant-partners that rely on such decision as grounds to initiate litigation. Any such disputes or future disputes could subject us to negative publicity, have an adverse impact on our brand and reputation, divert management’s time and attention, involve significant costs and otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We may also be exposed to securities litigation. See “—Risks Relating to the Company’s Securities—We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.”
We have incurred a significant amount of indebtedness and may in the future incur additional indebtedness. Our payment obligations under such indebtedness may limit the funds available to us, and the terms of our debt agreements may restrict our flexibility in operating our business
As of December 31, 2021, we had total outstanding indebtedness of $2.2 billion. Subject to the limitations in the terms of our existing and future indebtedness, we may incur additional indebtedness, secure existing or future indebtedness, or refinance our indebtedness. In particular, we may need to incur additional indebtedness to finance our operations and such financing may not be available to us on attractive terms, or at all. Among other macroeconomic factors, an increase in interest rates would adversely affect our ability to secure additional debt financing and would result in higher interest payments.
We may be required to use a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to pay interest and principal on our indebtedness. Such payments will reduce the funds available to us for working capital, capital expenditures, and other corporate purposes and limit our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, expansion plans, and other investments, which may in turn limit our ability to implement our business strategy, heighten our vulnerability to downturns in our business, the industry, or in the general economy, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry, and prevent us from taking advantage of business opportunities as they arise. We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future financing will be available to us in amounts sufficient to enable us to make required and timely payments on our indebtedness, or to fund our operations. To date, we have used a substantial amount of cash for operating activities, and we cannot assure you when we will begin to generate cash from operating activities in amounts sufficient to cover our debt service obligations.
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In addition, under our Term Loan B Facility, Grab Holdings Inc. and certain of Grab Holdings Inc.’s subsidiaries are subject to limitations regarding our business and operations, including limitations on incurring additional indebtedness and liens, limitations on certain consolidations, mergers, and sales of assets, and restrictions on the payment of dividends or distributions. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve additional restrictive covenants relating to our capital-raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions or divestitures. Any default under our debt arrangements could require that we repay our loans immediately and may limit our ability to obtain additional financing, which in turn may have an adverse effect on our cash flows and liquidity. Further, any downgrade of our credit ratings may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional debt financing or may increase the cost thereof.
In addition, as of January 1, 2022, LIBOR settings for all non-U.S. dollar currencies and U.S. dollar one-week and two-month LIBOR settings ceased being published, provided or representative. InterContinental Benchmark Exchange and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority have confirmed that LIBOR settings for all remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors will cease to be published, provided or representative after June 30, 2023. If new methods of calculating LIBOR are established or if other benchmark rates used to price indebtedness or investments are established, the terms of any existing or future indebtedness or investments, including the terms of our debt instruments, may be negatively impacted, resulting in increased interest expense or lower than expected interest income. We discuss the interest rate risk related to some of our indebtedness in greater detail under “Item 11. Qualitative and Quantitative Disclosure about Market Risk—Interest Rate Risk.”
Increases in fuel, food, labor, energy, and other costs could adversely affect us.
Factors such as inflation, increased fuel prices, and increased vehicle purchase, rental, or maintenance costs may increase the costs incurred by the driver-partners when providing services on our platform. Similarly, factors such as inflation, increased food costs, increased labor and employee benefit costs, increased rental costs, and increased energy costs may increase merchant-partner operating costs. Many of the factors affecting driver- and merchant-partner costs are beyond the control of these parties. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and the resulting sanctions imposed by various governments on Russia has resulted in fuel price increases in certain countries we operate in, which would increase the costs incurred by our driver- and merchant-partners. In response, we have introduced a fare increase or fuel surcharge in some of the countries, such as Singapore and Vietnam, to help them counter the effects of the increasing fuel prices. In many cases, these increased costs may cause driver-partners to spend less time providing services on our platform or to seek alternative sources of income. Likewise, these increased costs may cause merchant-partners to pass costs on to consumers by increasing prices. The resulting increased prices may in turn reduce demand for the services offered on our platform. A decreased supply of consumers and driver- and merchant-partners or increased prices on our platform could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may experience fluctuations in our operating results.
Our operating results are subject to seasonal fluctuations as a result of a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, prior to the
COVID-19
pandemic, our revenue was typically lower in the first quarter of each year as a result of regional holidays, including the lunar new year and the holiday periods during which demand for mobility offerings is typically lower. In addition, our revenue is also impacted by other holidays such as Christmas and celebration of the new year as well as the fasting month of Ramadan, which impacts demand for deliveries and mobility offerings as well as driver-partner supply. Our operating results may also experience seasonal fluctuations due to weather conditions, such as flooding during the rainy season in certain markets, like Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In addition to seasonality, our operating results may fluctuate as a result of factors including our ability to attract and retain new platform users, increased competition in the markets in which we operate, our ability to expand our operations in new and existing markets, our ability to maintain an adequate growth rate and effectively manage that growth, our ability to keep pace with technological changes in the industries in which we operate, changes in governmental or other regulations affecting our business, harm to our brand or reputation, and other risks described elsewhere in this annual report. In addition, with the COVID-19
pandemic, we have experienced a significant increase in our business revenue and volume as well as accelerated growth in our deliveries segment. Such growth stemming from the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic may not continue in the future, and we expect the growth rates to decline in future periods. Furthermore, our fast-paced growth has made, and may in the future make, these fluctuations more pronounced and as a result, harder to predict. As such, we may not accurately forecast our operating results. We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
We operate in multiple jurisdictions, which exposes us to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. We earn revenue denominated in Singapore Dollars, Indonesian Rupiah, Thai Baht, Malaysian Ringgit, Vietnamese Dong and Philippine Pesos, among other currencies. Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates will affect our financial results, which we report in U.S. Dollars. We have not but may in the future choose to enter into hedging arrangements to manage foreign currency translation, but such activity may not completely eliminate fluctuations in our operating results due to currency exchange rate changes. Hedging arrangements are inherently risky, and could expose us to additional risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We cannot assure you that movements in foreign currency exchange rates will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations in future periods. Furthermore, the substantial majority of our revenue is denominated in emerging markets currencies. Because fluctuations in the value of emerging markets currencies are not necessarily correlated, there can be no assurance that our results of operations will not be adversely affected by such volatility.
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We track certain operating metrics with internal systems and tools and do not independently verify such metrics. Certain of our operating metrics are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and any real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may adversely affect our business and reputation.
We track certain key operating metrics, including, among others, our GMV, MTUs, partner incentives, consumer incentives, registered driver-partners and cohort data, with internal systems and tools that are not independently verified by any third party and which may differ from estimates or similar metrics published by third parties due to differences in sources, methodologies, or the assumptions on which we rely. Our internal systems and tools have a number of limitations, and our methodologies for tracking these metrics may change over time, which could result in unexpected changes to our metrics, including the metrics we publicly disclose. If the internal systems and tools we use to track these metrics undercount or overcount performance or contain algorithmic or other technical errors, the data we report may not be accurate. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates of our metrics for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring how our platform is used. For example, the accuracy of our operating metrics could be impacted by fraudulent users of our platform, and further, we believe that there are consumers who have multiple accounts, even though this is prohibited in our Terms of Service and we implement measures to detect and prevent this behavior. Consumer usage of multiple accounts may cause us to overstate the number of consumers on our platform. In addition, limitations or errors with respect to how we measure data or with respect to the data that we measure may affect our understanding of certain details of our business, which could affect our long-term strategies. If our operating metrics are not accurate representations of our business, if investors do not perceive our operating metrics to be accurate, or if we discover material inaccuracies with respect to these figures, we expect that our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Industry data and estimates contained in this annual report are uncertain and subject to interpretation, and may not be an indication of the actual results of our current or future results. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on such information
.
The industry data and estimates included in this annual report are subject to inherent uncertainty as they necessarily require certain assumptions and judgments. Certain facts, statistics and estimates relating to our industries and our competitive position have been derived from various public data sources, commissioned third-party industry report and other third-party industry reports and surveys. We commissioned Euromonitor International Limited to conduct market research concerning the digital services, food deliveries and transportation markets in Southeast Asia. While we generally believe Euromonitor’s report to be reliable, we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of such information. Euromonitor’s report may not have been prepared on a comparable basis or may not be consistent with other sources. Moreover, geographic markets and the industries we operate in are not clearly defined or subject to standard definitions, and are the result of subjective interpretation. Accordingly, our use of the terms referring to our geographic markets and industries such as digital services, food deliveries and transportation markets may be subject to interpretation, and the resulting industry data, estimates and competitive positions are inherently uncertain. For these reasons and due to the nature of market research methodologies, you should not place undue reliance on such information as a basis for making, or refraining from making, your investment decision.
Our use of “open source” software under restrictive licenses could: (i) adversely affect our ability to license and commercialize certain elements of our proprietary code base on the commercial terms of our choosing; (ii) result in a loss of our trade secrets or other intellectual property rights with respect to certain portions of our proprietary code; and (iii) subject us to litigation and other disputes.
We have incorporated certain third-party “open source” software (“OSS”) or modified OSS into elements of our proprietary code base in connection with the development of our platform. In general, this OSS has been incorporated and is used pursuant to ‘permissive’ OSS licenses, which are designed to be compatible with our use and commercialization of our own proprietary code base. However, we have also incorporated and use some OSS under restrictive OSS licenses. Under these restrictive OSS licenses, we could be required to release to the public the source code of certain elements of our proprietary software which: (i) incorporate OSS or modified OSS in a certain manner; and (ii) have been conveyed or distributed to the public, or which the public interacts with. In some cases, we may be required to ensure that such elements of our proprietary software are licensed to the public on the terms set out in the relevant OSS license or at no cost. This could allow competitors to use certain elements of our proprietary software on a relatively unrestricted basis, or develop similar software at a lower cost. In addition, open source licensors generally do not provide warranties for their open source software, and the open source software may contain security vulnerabilities that we must actively manage or patch. It may be necessary for us to commit substantial resources to remediate our use of OSS under restrictive OSS licenses, for example by engineering alternative or work-around code.
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There is an increasing number of open-source software license types, and the terms under many of these licenses are unclear or ambiguous, and have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and therefore, the potential impact of such licenses on our business is not fully known or predictable. As a result, these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our own proprietary code (and in particular the elements of our proprietary code which incorporates OSS or modified OSS). Furthermore, we could become subject to lawsuits or claims challenging our use of open source software or compliance with open source license terms. If unsuccessful in these lawsuits or claims, we may face IP infringement or other liabilities, be required to seek costly licenses from third parties for the continued use of third-party IP, be required to
re-engineer
elements of our proprietary code base (e.g. for the sake of avoiding third-party IP infringement), discontinue or delay the use of infringing aspects of our proprietary code base (such as if re-engineering
is not feasible), or disclose and make generally available, in source code form, certain elements of our proprietary code. More broadly, the use of OSS can give rise to greater risks than the use of commercially acquired software, since open source licensors usually limit their liability in respect of the use of the OSS, and do not provide support, warranties, indemnifications or other contractual protections regarding the use of the OSS which would ordinarily be provided in the context of commercially acquired software.
Any of the foregoing could adversely impact the value of certain elements of our proprietary code base, and our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights in such code base against third parties. In turn, this could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business is subject to concentration risks.
Our deliveries, mobility, financial services and enterprise and new initiatives segments represented 21.9%, 67.6%, 4.0% and 6.5%, respectively, of our revenue in the year ended December 31, 2021 and 1.2%, 93.3%, (2.2)% and 7.7%, respectively, of our revenue in the year ended December 31, 2020. As close to 90% of our revenue was derived from our deliveries and mobility segments in the year ended December 31, 2021 and the year ended December 31, 2020, to the extent demand for deliveries and/or mobility offerings are impacted by adverse events, changes in laws or regulations, driver- and merchant-partner supply or consumer-demand based factors, a significant portion of our business could be adversely impacted. As a result of our business concentration in our deliveries and mobility segments, adverse developments with respect to such segments could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business depends heavily on insurance coverage provided by third parties, and we are subject to the risk that this may be insufficient or that insurance providers may be unable to meet their obligations.
Our business depends heavily on (i) insurance coverage for driver-partners and on other types of insurance for additional risks related to our business, and (ii) the driver-partners’ ability to procure and maintain insurance required by law. We maintain a large number of insurance policies, including, but not limited to, general liability, workers’ compensation, property, cybersecurity and information risk liability, errors and omissions liability and director and officers’ liability. If our insurance providers change the terms of our policies in an adverse manner, our insurance costs could increase, and if the insurance coverage we maintain is not adequate to cover losses that occur, we could be liable for additional costs. Additionally, if any of our insurance providers become insolvent, we would be unable to pay any claim that we make.
For example, we or the relevant regulator requires driver-partners to carry automobile insurance in most countries, and in many cases, we also maintain insurance on behalf of driver-partners. We rely on a limited number of insurance providers, and should such providers discontinue or increase the cost of coverage, we cannot guarantee that we, on behalf of driver-partners, would be able to secure replacement coverage on reasonable terms or at all. If we are required to purchase additional insurance for other aspects of our business, or if we fail to comply with regulations governing insurance coverage, our business could be harmed. We also face risks with respect to our insurance coverage in countries where our business is not yet subject to specific regulations, such as Thailand, as insurance providers may choose to refuse coverage as a result of a lack of clear regulation of the relevant business.
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We may also be subject to claims of significant liability based on traffic accidents, injuries, or other incidents that are claimed to have been caused by the driver- or merchant-partners. Even if these claims do not result in liability, we could incur significant costs in investigating and defending against them. If we are subject to claims of liability relating to the acts of driver- or merchant-partners or others using our platform, we may be subject to negative publicity and incur additional expenses, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
An increase in the use of credit and debit cards may result in lower growth or a decline in the use of our
e-wallet.
Due to the underdevelopment of the banking industry in Southeast Asia, a significant portion of the population in these markets does not have access to credit or debit cards. In addition, many may be unwilling to use debit or credit cards for online transactions due to security concerns. Through the GrabPay wallet, consumers can make payments through our superapp. However, if the banking industry in Southeast Asia continues to develop and there is a significant increase in the availability, acceptance and use of credit cards or debit cards for online or offline payments by consumers in Southeast Asia, usage of our
e-wallet
could decline. Our reported results of operations may be adversely affected by changes in accounting principles.
The accounting for our business is complicated, particularly in the area of revenue recognition, and is subject to change based on the evolution of our business model, interpretations of relevant accounting principles, enforcement of existing or new regulations, and changes in SEC or other agency policies, rules, regulations, and interpretations of accounting regulations. Changes to our business model and accounting policies could result in changes to our financial statements, including changes in revenue and expenses in any period, or in certain categories of revenue and expenses moving to different periods, may result in materially different financial results, and may require that we change how we process, analyze and report financial information and our financial reporting controls.
We allow consumers to pay for rides, deliveries and other offerings or services through our platform using cash, which raises numerous regulatory, operational, and safety concerns.
We allow consumers to use cash to pay the driver-partners the entire fare of rides and cost of deliveries (including the service fee payable to us by driver-partners from such rides and deliveries). Cash-paid trips accounted for 32% of our transactions in 2021, 43% in 2020 and 52% in 2019. The use of cash raises numerous regulatory, operational, and safety concerns. For example, cash collection in some jurisdictions may fall into an ambiguous area between regulated banking or payments activity that requires licenses and activity that is not regulated by relevant law, which creates uncertainty. Failure to comply with regulations could result in the imposition of significant fines and penalties and could result in regulators requiring that we suspend operations in those jurisdictions. In addition to these regulatory concerns, the use of cash can increase safety and security risks for the driver-partners, including potential robbery, assault, violent or fatal attacks, and other criminal acts. In certain jurisdictions where we operate serious safety incidents, including robberies and violent attacks on driver-partners while they were using our platform, have been reported. We have undertaken steps to minimize the use of cash by working with governments on initiatives to drive cashless penetration, providing consumer incentives such as coupons, vouchers or our rewards program to encourage use of GrabPay. In addition, in certain markets the use of cash has been limited due to government measures in light of the
COVID-19
pandemic. In addition, establishing the proper infrastructure to ensure that we receive the correct fee on cash trips is complex, and has in the past meant and may continue to mean that we cannot collect the entire fee for certain cash-based transactions. We have created systems for driver-partners to collect and deposit the cash received for cash-based trips and deliveries, as well as systems for us to collect, deposit, and properly account for the cash received, some of which are not always effective, convenient, or widely-adopted. Creating, maintaining, and improving these systems requires significant effort and resources, and we cannot guarantee these systems will be effective in collecting amounts due to us. Further, operating a business that uses cash raises compliance risks with respect to a variety of rules and regulations, including anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws. If driver-partners fail to pay us under the terms of our agreements or if our collection systems fail, we may be adversely affected by both the inability to collect amounts due and the cost of enforcing the terms of our contracts, including litigation. Such collection failure and enforcement costs, along with any costs associated with a failure to comply with applicable rules and regulations, could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. 42
We may be affected by governmental economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations that apply to Myanmar.
We may be affected by economic and trade sanctions administered by governments relating to Myanmar, including the U.S. government (including without limitation regulations administered and enforced by OFAC, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), and the U.S. Department of State), the Council of the European Union, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation of Her Majesty’s Treasury in the United Kingdom (“OFSI”) and the United Nations Security Council. For example, on February 11, 2021, the U.S. government implemented new sanctions with respect to Myanmar in response to the February 1, 2021, military coup. These economic and trade sanctions currently prohibit or restrict transactions and dealings with certain individuals and entities in Myanmar, including with individuals and entities included on OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals (the “SDN List”) and the Department of Commerce’s Entity List, subject to EU or UK asset freezes, or other sanctions measures. On March 4, 2021, BIS added two military and security services entities it identified as responsible for the military coup and escalating violence in Myanmar to the Entity List, along with two commercial entities that are owned and operated by one of these entities, and implemented new restrictions on exports and reexports to Burma, and transfers
(in-country)
within Myanmar, of certain sensitive items subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. On March 25, 2021, OFAC designated two military holding companies, Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (“MEHL”) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (“MEC”). On April 8, 2021, OFAC designated Myanmar Gems Enterprise, on April 21, OFAC further designated Myanmar Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, and on May 17, OFAC designated the State Administrative Council together with certain members of the military regime. On July 2, 2021, OFAC sanctioned additional senior officials of Myanmar’s military and certain of their family members, and BIS added four entities that have provided support to Myanmar’s military to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List. Similarly, on February 18 and 25, 2021, the UK designated nine Myanmar military officers, announcing asset freezes and travel bans and on March 25 and April 1, 2021, the UK respectively sanctioned MEHL, MEC, and their subsidiaries. On March 22, the European Council designated 11 Myanmar government officials, and on April 19, 2021, further designated an additional ten Myanmar government officials, as well as MEHL and MEC. The EU has also announced that it is ready to withhold financial support from the development system to government reform programs. It is possible that the U.S. government, the EU or the UK may increase sanctions on Myanmar or specific individuals and entities in Myanmar in the future. Other jurisdictions may also introduce new sanctions on Myanmar or expand existing sanctions. Continued geopolitical tensions as well as existing and any additional sanctions could result in a material adverse impact on Myanmar’s economy, and while our operations in Myanmar represent less than one percent of our revenue, our future prospects in Myanmar could be adversely affected and we may need to exit the market, which would involve costs related to such exit and a loss of our investment in the market. There is a risk that, despite the internal controls we have in place, we have engaged or could potentially engage in dealings with persons sanctioned under applicable sanctions laws. Any non-compliance
with economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations or related investigations could result in claims or actions against us and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. As our business continues to grow and regulations change, we may be required to make additional investments in our internal controls or modify our business. 43
Our business could be impacted by environmental regulations and policies and related changes in consumer behavior and any failure on our part to meet our environmental, social and corporate governance (“ESG”) targets.
Governments in the jurisdictions in which we operate may implement regulations and policies aimed at addressing climate change or other environmental concerns including, among others, with respect to emission reduction and higher electrification of the automotive industry, as well as those limiting the use of
single-use
packaging and utensils. The cost of regulatory compliance for internal combustion engine vehicles could increase or governments may take action to reduce the number of internal combustion engine vehicles on the road. Although we have taken measures to increase the proportion of low emission vehicles in our fleet of rental vehicles, government policies or regulations may be implemented quickly. The foregoing could increase costs for us, including with respect to changes in regulations, policies and operations, require us to purchase new vehicles for or increase costs with respect to our rental fleet, and also create challenges for driver-partners as we could raise costs with respect to vehicle ownership or rental. In addition, we may have to incur additional cost for compliance with regulations with respect to, and operating, a fleet of electric vehicles. Furthermore, our business could be impacted by increased environmental awareness among consumers, for example with respect to the usage of single-use
packaging and utensils or mobility or deliveries services generally. In addition, investors increasingly focus on how companies assess and manage ESG risks and factor ESG into their investment selection criteria. We have publicly committed to meeting certain ESG targets. Failure to comply with environmental regulations and policies or to meet our ESG commitments may reduce our attraction for investors or prevent them from investing in us by their policies, hence impacting our ability to raise funds.
Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure and Doing Business in Southeast Asia