A ride-share app that brings people along

THE LUNCHTIME RUSH IS JUST BUBBLING AT KEDAI KOPI hawker center in Singapore's Clementi neighborhood when Anthony Tan strolls in.

- CHARLIE CAMPBELL

The co-founder and CEO of the ride-hailing firm Grab orders himself a Horlicks malt drink, sits at a Formica table, and takes a sweep of the bustling vendors. One catches his eye: a stall selling nasi lemak, the signature Malay dish of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf. Back in 2012, Tan used to offer it to taxi drivers gassing up in his hometown of Kuala Lumpur, pitching his upstart service while they ate.

"But because we couldn't afford to do a deal with the petrol station, they chased us out," Tan, 40, recalls. He decamped to a nearby sidewalk by fetid monsoon drains. "It was so smelly," he says. "But it was close enough to shout over, 'Hey uncle, do you want free nasi lemak?""

In the years since, Grab has transformed from a "street fighting" startup, as Tan puts it-scoring Southeast Asia's biggest Nasdaq IPO in 2021, valued at around $40 billion. But that hasn't kept Tan sequestered in his office. Opposite the nasi lemak stall is another for fiery Peranakan seafood, where Tan pulled a four-hour shift during the pandemic. With lockdowns decimating Grab's ride-hailing business, it pivoted to food delivery, and Tan wanted to better understand vendors' needs. He ended up "cleaning live crabs and absolutely covered in bits of shell and crab juice," he laughs. "But I saw that when the orders came out in English, the Chinese-speaking chefs couldn't understand them. After that we made the tickets in both languages." Tan's anecdotes help to explain why Grab, with a market cap of $12 billion, is one of Southeast Asia's most valuable firms. Its green-attired delivery drivers are ubiquitous in over 500 cities across eight nations. Often compared to Uber, Grab is much more, fast becoming a fully fledged superapp, offering insurance, travel bookings, financial services, and more.