Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're trying to get a clear picture of how Grab Holdings Limited actually generates profit across its massive Southeast Asian footprint, and frankly, it's more complex than just ride-hailing now. As someone who's spent two decades mapping these giants, I can tell you the real story is in the ecosystem lock-in, supported by a $7.4 billion cash position as of Q3 2025. We're looking at a platform serving 47.7 million Monthly Transacting Users, where the Financial Services segment is growing a sharp 39% year-over-year, even while they spend $585 million on incentives that quarter to keep that network humming. Below, I've mapped out the nine essential building blocks of their current Business Model Canvas so you can see precisely where the value is created and captured.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the network effects that power Grab Holdings Limited's ecosystem, and honestly, the depth of these alliances is what keeps the competition at bay. These partnerships aren't just nice-to-haves; they are the infrastructure for their mobility, delivery, and financial services segments.

The financial services arm, GrabFin, relies heavily on established players to build trust and scale its digital banking offerings, GXS Bank in Singapore and GX Bank in Malaysia. For instance, in the first quarter of 2025, customers parked a total of SGD $1.43 billion in deposits with these digital banks, a significant jump from the SGD $479 million held a year prior. To support this, Grab Holdings Limited works with over 60 financial institutions and banks across Southeast Asia, including names like Citi, Krungsri, and Maybank, alongside global payment platforms such as Ayden and Stripe. The financial services segment itself saw revenue rise by 42% year-on-year to $92 million in Q2 2025.

For the core O2O (Online-to-Offline) businesses, the sheer scale of the merchant network is critical. While the target structure mentions a specific number, the latest figures show a massive base. As of late 2024, Grab had 6 million merchants and partners on its platform, with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) contributing 67% of the total GrabFood and GrabMart Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Furthermore, Grab onboarded 600,000 MSMEs during the 2024 fiscal year.

Here's a quick look at the scale of some key partnership categories:

Automobile manufacturers are key for electrifying the fleet. Grab announced a regional partnership with BYD to provide driver-partners access to up to 50,000 BYD electric vehicles across six markets, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. This supports Grab's goal to accelerate the transition to zero-emission transport for its partners.

Future mobility innovation is being explored through strategic technology alliances. In March 2025, Grab signed agreements with four autonomous technology companies-Autonomous a2z, Motional, WeRide, and Zelos-to study self-driving vehicles in Southeast Asia. More recently, in October 2025, Grab announced a multi-year partnership, including an investment, with May Mobility to integrate its AV technology. Furthermore, Grab released AI tools in April 2025 developed in collaboration with OpenAI and Anthropic. By November 2025, Grab and WeRide were conducting Autonomous Vehicle testing with their entire fleet of 11 AVs in Singapore's Punggol district.

Operating across 8 Southeast Asian countries, navigating local regulations is a constant focus. Grab is actively engaged with local governments. For example, Grab Malaysia launched its 'Kerana Asean' campaign in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia in May 2025. In Thailand, Grab supported the government's "Amazing Thailand Grand Tourism Year 2025" campaign, expanding ride-hailing services to four new provinces: Ranong, Satun, Trat, and Amnat Charoen. On the regulatory front, GrabCab secured a 10-year street-hail operator licence from Singapore's Land Transport Authority in 2025. The broader 'Grab for Good' program has a 2025 goal to improve digital literacy for 3 million Southeast Asians through government partnerships.

You can see the partnerships break down like this:

• Financial institutions like DBS and CIMB are implicitly supported by the over 60 banking partners and the SGD $1.43 billion in digital bank deposits in Q1 2025.
• Over 450,000 active merchant-partners for Deliveries and O2O, though the total base was reported at 6 million partners in late 2024.
• Automobile manufacturers like BYD are central to the EV push, targeting access to 50,000 vehicles.
• Global AI and driverless AV partners include four firms signed in March 2025, plus May Mobility and the firms behind the AI tools, OpenAI and Anthropic.
• Local governments and regulators across 8 countries, evidenced by the 10-year Singapore license and specific campaigns in Malaysia and Thailand.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're trying to map out the core engine of Grab Holdings Limited as of late 2025. The Key Activities section is where the rubber meets the road-the essential things Grab must do well to make the whole model work. It's all about execution on the technology and the marketplace.

• - Platform development and maintenance (Grab super-app, GrabMaps).
• - Managing a massive network of over 2.1 million driver-partners. Monthly active driver supply grew 17% year-over-year to reach a sequential all-time high in Q3 2025.
• - Financial services operations, including lending and expected credit loss provisions.
• - Strategic investments in Autonomous Vehicles (AV) and Remote Driving technology.
• - Marketing and incentive programs totaling $585 million in Q3 2025.

The technology backbone requires constant work. Regional corporate costs, which include support and development of the internal technology infrastructure like mapping and payment technologies, were reported at $95 million for the third quarter of 2025.

Managing the supply side is critical for the super-app's reliability. While the total network size is stated as over 2.1 million driver-partners, the Q3 2025 results showed that monthly active driver supply grew 17% year-over-year, hitting a new sequential all-time high.

The Financial Services segment is a major focus for growth, but it brings credit risk management into the Key Activities. Here's a look at the Q3 2025 numbers for that vertical:

The negative $28 million Segment Adjusted EBITDA loss in Financial Services for Q3 2025 was primarily driven by higher expected credit loss provisions, which were increased in line with the 56% year-over-year growth in total loan disbursals.

Innovation in mobility is also a key activity, preparing for future scale. Grab Holdings Limited announced a partnership with May Mobility and received approval to conduct Autonomous Vehicle (AV) testing with their entire Ai.R fleet of 11 AVs in Singapore's Punggol district in November 2025. This shows a clear commitment to future-proofing the mobility network.

Finally, driving transaction volume requires significant spending on incentives. Total incentives across the platform for the third quarter of 2025 hit $585 million. For context, On-Demand incentives alone represented 10.1% of the On-Demand Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for the quarter.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets Grab Holdings Limited is using to run its massive Southeast Asian operation as of late 2025. These aren't just ideas; these are the tangible and intangible things that make the whole machine run.

• - Proprietary technology platform and GrabMaps for hyper-local services.
• - Large, active user base of over 48 million Monthly Transacting Users.
• - Extensive network of driver and merchant-partners across Southeast Asia.
• - Strong balance sheet with gross cash liquidity of $7.4 billion (Q3 2025).
• - Comprehensive user data for cross-selling and targeted advertising.

The technology itself is a massive resource, especially the mapping capability tailored for the complex logistics of the region. This tech stack supports the core services, which are seeing significant scale. For instance, in the third quarter of 2025, On-Demand Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) hit $5.8 billion.

The user base is the engine, and it's growing. As of the third quarter of 2025, Grab reported its MTUs reached 48 million, which is nearly 6 million more users year-on-year, showing product-led innovations are working to bring people onto the platform.

The financial foundation is rock solid right now, giving Grab the flexibility to invest or pursue strategic moves, like the rumored acquisition of its largest rival. Here's a quick look at the balance sheet strength as of September 30, 2025:

The Financial Services segment is rapidly becoming a key resource in itself, leveraging the existing user base. Total loan disbursals in Q3 2025 reached $886 million, pushing the gross loan portfolio (excluding expected credit loss provisions) to $903 million by the end of that quarter. Also, the advertising business, which feeds off user activity data, hit an annualized run-rate of $236 million as of Q2 2025.

Don't forget the physical network-the drivers and merchants. This network is what enables the hyper-local service delivery that defines the value proposition. Furthermore, Grab is investing in future-facing technology assets, evidenced by receiving approval to expand autonomous vehicle testing in Singapore with WeRide Inc.

The data asset is subtle but critical. As the CEO noted in the Q3 2025 remarks, they are, in many ways, a data science company, learning every second from the ecosystem's data points. This data fuels cross-selling and targeted advertising, which is a high-margin revenue stream.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Grab Holdings Limited offers across its diverse user base as of late 2025. It's about integration, access, and efficiency, all wrapped into one platform.

Consumers: A Single Super-app for Mobility, Delivery, and Financial Needs

For consumers, the value is the convenience of a single application that handles multiple daily needs. This integration drives higher engagement; data shows that users engaging with multiple services spend approximately 4x more than those using a single service. This flywheel effect is evident in the platform's scale, with Group Monthly Transacting Users reaching an all-time high, powering the ecosystem. The On-Demand Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) reflects this stickiness, accelerating to $5.8 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

• Group Monthly Transacting Users reached an all-time high in Q2 2025.
• On-Demand GMV grew 24% YoY to $5.8 billion in Q3 2025.
• Cross-service users spend 4x more than single-service users.

Driver-Partners: Flexible Earning Opportunities and Access to Lending Services

Driver-partners value the platform for providing flexible earning opportunities, which is critical in the gig economy. The platform's ability to scale demand directly translates to partner availability; for instance, monthly active drivers grew 18% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025. Beyond driving, Grab Holdings Limited extends value through its financial arm, offering access to credit where traditional banking might fall short. This is a key differentiator for this segment.

Merchant-Partners: Access to a Large Customer Base and a Growing Advertising Platform

For merchant-partners, Grab Holdings Limited offers immediate access to a massive, engaged customer base across mobility and delivery. The Deliveries segment GMV alone reached $3,733 million in the third quarter of 2025. Furthermore, the platform monetizes this traffic through advertising; the advertising business attracted 191,000 monthly active advertisers, a 49% year-over-year increase in Q1 2025. This advertising revenue as a percentage of Deliveries GMV expanded to 1.7% in Q1 2025.

Affordability: Saver Products and Ecosystem Features like Grab Unlimited

Affordability is a direct lever for user acquisition and retention. The GrabUnlimited subscription plan is a prime example of delivering predictable value, particularly around delivery fees. In one market, Grab Philippines reported that GrabUnlimited subscribers jumped more than 200% since its launch. Similarly, the introduction of products like GrabCar SAVER, which offers reduced fares of up to 15%, targets price-sensitive users. This focus on value helps shield the platform from macro pressures, as noted by the CFO.

Financial Inclusion: Digital Banking and Lending Services for the Underbanked

The Financial Services segment is a major value driver, specifically targeting the underbanked population in Southeast Asia. The lending component is robust, with total loans disbursed growing to $886 million in Q3 2025. The total loan portfolio outstanding stood at $821 million at the end of Q3 2025, with management on track for it to exceed $1 billion by year-end. Prudent risk management is reflected in the low non-performing loan ratio, which was reported at 1.8% in Q2 2025. Digital banking also captures value, with customer deposits growing to $1,543 million in Q2 2025.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the Financial Services value proposition as of mid-to-late 2025:

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're managing relationships across a platform serving nearly 50 million active users in late 2025, so the approach has to be heavily digitized and scaled. Grab Holdings Limited relies on technology to manage the vast majority of its customer interactions, reserving high-touch service for its most valuable partners.

Automated, in-app self-service and high-volume digital support form the first line of defense. With Group Monthly Transacting Users (MTUs) hitting 47.7M in Q3 2025, deflecting simple queries to in-app help centers and automated chatbots is critical for cost control and speed. This digital-first approach helps manage the sheer volume of daily transactions across Mobility, Deliveries, and Financial Services without ballooning support overheads. Honestly, if a user needs to call someone for a simple order modification, the system isn't working as intended.

The core retention mechanism is the revamped loyalty offering. Grab rebranded its GrabRewards programme to GrabCoins across Southeast Asia in late 2025, rolling out broader earning mechanics across all services. This ecosystem integration is designed to keep users transacting within the platform, as a dollar spent with Grab is intended to be more valuable than a dollar spent elsewhere. For context, members of loyalty programs generally generate 12-18% more incremental revenue growth per year than non-members. The Malaysian loyalty market itself is projected to reach US$471.7 million in 2025, showing the value placed on these programs in the region. You can see the structure and recent engagement drivers below.

For the high-value end of the partner spectrum, Grab maintains a more personal touch. Dedicated account management for large merchant-partners and advertisers is executed by specialized teams, such as those managing Regional Strategic Accounts for QSR and F&B partners. These managers build long-term partnerships aligned with joint business plans, using data-driven account plans to unlock potential across Grab's eight markets. Similarly, larger or higher-volume restaurants may be assigned a Dedicated Account Manager to discuss fee structures and optimization. This high-touch approach supports the overall revenue, which hit $873M in Q3 2025.

The product-led growth strategy is evident in features designed to organically deepen user engagement. The Group Orders feature, for example, offers users 3% back in GrabCoins for orders involving at least three people. This simple mechanic encourages users to take on organizational roles within their social or work circles, increasing transaction frequency and basket size across the Deliveries vertical. Also, the rollout of Partner Apps, allowing users to book services like eSIMs or car-sharing without leaving the main app, deepens platform stickiness by expanding utility beyond core ride and delivery services.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Grab Holdings Limited actually gets its value proposition into the hands of its users and partners; it's all about the digital pipeline. The entire model hinges on a few core, interconnected applications that serve as the central nervous system for Southeast Asia's largest super-app ecosystem.

The Grab Mobile Super-App (Primary Channel for All Services)

The main gateway is the Grab mobile super-app itself. This is where the vast majority of transactions originate, whether you're booking a ride, ordering food, or accessing financial tools. The scale here is significant, showing deep user engagement across the platform.

For the third quarter of 2025, the On-Demand Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) hit $5.8 billion, which was a 24% year-over-year (YoY) acceleration. This volume was supported by a 16% YoY growth in Monthly Transacting Users (MTUs) and a 27% YoY increase in the total number of On-Demand transactions for Q3 2025. To keep this engine running, total incentives for the quarter were $585 million, representing 10.1% of the On-Demand GMV.

Looking at the Mobility segment specifically from Q1 2025, the Mobility GMV rose 17% to SGD $1.8 billion, with monthly active drivers growing 18% YoY, showing the channel's capacity to scale supply.

GrabPay and GrabFin Digital Wallets and Payment Gateways

GrabPay is the critical payment channel, deeply embedded across all services and extending to offline merchants. It drives stickiness; honestly, cross-service users spend 4x more than single-service users, which is a massive multiplier for the wallet.

Based on Q2 2025 figures, GrabPay's Total Payment Volume (TPV) reached approximately $5.8 billion, marking a 38% surge YoY. The merchant side of this channel is also expanding, with merchant adoption of GrabPay rising 25% YoY in Q2 2025. The financial services revenue, which heavily relies on this payment infrastructure via GrabFin, hit $90 million in Q3 2025, a 39% YoY increase.

Here is a snapshot of the Financial Services segment performance, which flows through GrabFin and the digital banks, as reported for Q3 2025:

Dedicated Driver and Merchant-Partner Applications

While the consumer-facing app is the most visible, the dedicated apps for drivers and merchants are the essential supply and acceptance channels. Without them, the core service proposition collapses. Driver retention is key to maintaining service quality on the road.

In Q1 2025, Grab reported that monthly active drivers grew 18% compared to the same period the previous year, and driver retention remained high at 90%. For merchants, the channel strength is visible in the advertising revenue growth for the Deliveries segment, which saw a 23% revenue increase in Q3 2025, bolstered by increased GMV and advertising revenue, suggesting strong partner engagement with the platform's commercial tools.

Digital Banks (GXS Bank, GXBank) for Financial Services Distribution

The digital banks, GXS Bank in Singapore and GXBank in Malaysia, act as specialized, regulated channels for distributing lending and deposit products directly to the ecosystem users. This leverages the existing customer base for high-margin financial products. The strategy is definitely scaling up, as anticipated.

As of Q3 2025, customer deposits across both GXS Bank and GXBank reached $1.31 billion. Looking at the scale achieved by the end of 2024, the combined GXS Group (including Superbank in Indonesia) had onboarded over 3 million customers, with GXBank in Malaysia alone recording over 750,000 customers since its launch, supported by an investment of RM1.5 billion into its growth. The total deposit base for the GXS Group (Singapore and Malaysia) grew 240% to S$1.7 billion for FY2024.

The distribution success is clear from the loan portfolio growth, which is a direct result of these banking channels pushing credit products to the user base.

• GXS Bank in Singapore saw its flagship GXS FlexiLoan product double the number of loans disbursed from the year before (as of end-2024).
• More than 90% of GXBank customers in Malaysia were ecosystem customers in 2024.
• In Singapore, as at the end of 2024, more than 8 in 10 GXS Bank customers were also customers of Grab and Singtel.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core user base that fuels Grab Holdings Limited's entire ecosystem. This isn't just about one service; it's about the density and frequency of users across mobility, deliveries, and financial services. Here are the hard numbers from the latest reports as of late 2025.

• Mass-market consumers in Southeast Asia seeking on-demand services.
• Driver-partners and delivery riders seeking flexible income.
• Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and restaurants (merchant-partners).
• Users engaging across multiple service verticals, driving ecosystem value.

The consumer base is growing, which is the foundation for everything else. In the third quarter of 2025, Grab Holdings Limited reported its Group Monthly Transacting Users (MTUs) reached 48 million. This represents a significant scale, with On-Demand MTUs growing by 16% year-over-year in Q3 2025.

The supply side-the partners-is also expanding to meet this demand, hitting new highs. The platform is actively managing a large network of providers:

The merchant segment is increasingly monetizable through advertising, showing deeper engagement from SMEs and restaurants. The total number of quarterly active advertisers on the self-serve platform hit 228,000 in Q3 2025. Furthermore, the average spend from these advertisers showed strong growth, increasing by 41% year-over-year.

The value of the ecosystem is quantified by how many services a user employs. While the exact percentage you mentioned isn't in the latest filings, the data clearly shows the benefit of cross-service usage. For instance, in Q1 2025, it was noted that users engaging with multiple services spend approximately four times more than those using a single service. This cross-service integration is what helps Grab Holdings Limited deepen engagement and retention across its user base.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the expenses that keep the Grab Holdings Limited engine running, which is a mix of variable, fixed, and investment costs. Honestly, for a platform this size, the variable costs tied directly to transactions are massive.

• High variable costs from driver and consumer incentives, totaling $585 million in Q3 2025.
• Cost of revenue, which includes expenses like cloud computing costs.
• Technology and R&D expenses, covering investments in areas like AI and mapping technology.
• Regional corporate costs, which saw optimization down to $86 million in Q1 2025.
• Expected credit loss (ECL) provisions, which rise as the lending business scales up.

The Cost of Revenue line item itself is substantial, reflecting the direct costs of running the marketplace. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Cost of Revenue was $914 million, up from $781 million in the prior year period as the businesses scaled. Partner incentives, which are costs related to drivers and merchants, were $455 million for that same six-month period. It's important to note that consumer incentives, which reduce revenue, are tracked separately from these direct costs.

Technology investment is a non-negotiable cost for Grab Holdings Limited, given the competitive landscape. For the twelve months ending September 30, 2025, Research and Development Expenses were reported at $430 million. These R&D costs support the internal technology infrastructure and the development of core technologies like mapping and payment systems.

Fixed overhead costs, like the regional corporate costs, show a trend of optimization, though they can fluctuate. While the company achieved a low of $86 million in Q1 2025, these costs ticked up to $95 million in Q3 2025. This shows the tightrope walk between maintaining operational efficiency and supporting growth across regions.

The Financial Services segment introduces a specific type of cost that is directly tied to credit risk. The growth in the loan book directly impacts the Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provisions. For instance, in Q3 2025, Financial Services Segment Adjusted EBITDA losses were negative $28 million, primarily driven by higher ECL provisions as the loan book was scaled. To give you a broader view of the impact on financial assets, Net impairment losses on financial assets for the six months ended June 30, 2025, reached $66 million.

Here's a quick look at how some of these key cost components stack up across recent periods:

The ongoing investment in technology is a structural cost that feeds future value, but you have to watch the variable costs closely. If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, which could mean higher incentives are needed to maintain volume.

• Technology and R&D expenses cover salaries, materials, and overhead for innovation.
• Cost of revenue includes direct operational expenses like cloud computing.
• ECL provisions are a direct result of the growth strategy in the Financial Services segment.
• Incentives are managed as a percentage of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) to balance growth and margin.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Grab Holdings Limited (GRAB) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how Grab Holdings Limited actually brings in the money, which is key to understanding their path to sustained profitability. The revenue streams are definitely diversifying beyond just the core transactional take-rate.

The most substantial portion still comes from commissions and fees generated across the On-Demand segments, which includes Mobility (ride-hailing) and Deliveries Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). For the third quarter of 2025, the total On-Demand GMV hit $5.8 billion. Deliveries GMV was $3,733 million that quarter, bringing in $465 million in revenue, while Mobility GMV reached $2,041 million, contributing $317 million in revenue. That's a lot of transactions flowing through the platform.

Here's a quick look at how the core On-Demand segments stacked up in Q3 2025:

• Deliveries Revenue: $465 million
• Mobility Revenue: $317 million
• Total On-Demand GMV: $5.8 billion

The Financial Services segment is growing fast, which is defintely a major focus area for Grab Holdings Limited. Revenue from Financial Services, which covers lending and digital payments, grew a strong 39% year-over-year in Q3 2025, reaching $90 million. This growth is heavily supported by lending, where total loan disbursals in Q3 2025 hit $886 million. The total loan portfolio at the end of that quarter stood at $821 million, and management is on track for that portfolio to exit the full year above $1 billion.

Advertising revenue is another increasingly important stream, showing strong monetization of the merchant base. In the second quarter of 2025, Advertising revenue reached an annualized run-rate of $236 million, marking a 45% year-over-year increase for that quarter. This revenue is primarily tied to the Deliveries segment, where ad revenue as a percentage of Deliveries GMV grew to 1.7% in Q2 2025 from 1.4% the prior year.

When you look at the full-year picture, management has tightened its Total Group Revenue projection for Fiscal Year 2025 to be between $3.38 billion and $3.40 billion. This updated guidance reflects the strong momentum seen across the business, including the Q3 revenue of $873 million.

The remaining components of the revenue stream structure include transaction fees from GrabPay and insurance premiums, which feed into the overall Financial Services revenue bucket. Here's a table summarizing the key revenue and GMV figures we have for the latest reported quarters: