a ubiquitous sight on Southeast Asia’s roads that they seem like a natural place to put ads. As Alejandro Osorio, Country Head of Grab Thailand, puts it, “We’ve seen this opportunity in the soaring demand for food and package delivery services that’s made our delivery partners with their delivery bags increasingly become a significant touchpoint. It is visible and widely accessible to consumers in all areas.” Grab is Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing and delivery company, with the latter accounting for a slightly larger share of gross merchandise value (GMV). In the first quarter of this year, total company revenue was US$228 ($334 million), up 6 per cent from a year earlier on GMV of US$4.8 billion, which was up 32 per cent on a year ago). The deliveries component of revenue was US$2.6 billion, or 54 per cent of the total. Synergies of a superapp  The Grab superapp consists of four segments: Mobility, or ride-hailing; deliveries, which is the core e-commerce business; financial services, including electronic payments and microlending to drivers and merchants; and advertising and enterprise. The Digital BagAds are an illustration of how two of the four businesses can be harnessed together. Most of Grab’s food deliveries in Southeast Asia are made on motorbikes that are able to bring digital marketing messages into every nook and cranny of a city like Bangkok: the main roads, small alleys, and of course the home and office. The pilot is beginning with 20 drivers, increasing to 200, and a monthly ad package costs 18,000 baht (about $730). Osorio said: “Our focus would be the young consumer-targeted brands from various categories such as beauty, FMCG, technology, entertainment, and fashion.” The crossover between business segments can also be seen in financial services. Lending by Grab Financial Group to merchants who sell on Grab’s deliveries platform tripled in the first quarter of 2022, as the number of merchants continued to rise dramatically and demand for personal loans to support cash flow remained high. Grab CFO Peter Oey told an investor conference in June that the company had brought “hundreds of thousands” of new merchants onto its platform in 2021 alone. Another example of synergy across businesses is the ability to harness together mobility and deliveries as the need arises. As Oey explained: “The beauty of our platform is that because our driver supply is so ,it makes our proposition unique. Unlike our peers [who] only do delivery, our drivers today can toggle between ride-hailing and delivery – all sorts of deliveries.” Unusual partnerships Grab’s appetite for partnerships and synergies causes it to participate in some unusual and innovative collaborations. It recently entered into a partnership with Singapore’s Secura Group in which Grab’s gig economy drivers are offered security officer training courses. Graduates will be eligible for security guard assignments with Secura Group at its various properties. Other collaborations are more conventional. Grab does all of Starbucks’ deliveries and its payment and rewards systems are integrated with the coffee chain. Likewise, it is tightly associated with McDonald’s, particularly in Singapore. Grab executives are confident that through a balanced approach to growth and profitability, the company can achieve big things for its investors. Grab is among the most downloaded apps in the region and Oey said the platform has 31 million monthly users. The mobility segment is already profitable and deliveries is on its way there. And the opportunities in the eight Southeast Asian countries in which Grab operates are considerable: “If you look at the penetration rate for mobility today, it’s still 3 per cent. If you look at the penetration of grocery delivery, it’s 1 per cent. You look at food delivery, it’s still in early teens. If you look at people accessing financial services, 6 out of 10 in Southeast Asia do not have access to a bank account or do not have access to financial services products. So, there’s a huge opportunity for us to serve just in Southeast Asia today.”  The deliveries business was acquired from Uber in mid-2018 and its growth has been rapid throughout the pandemic, both in terms of the number of users and the amount spent per user, which was up 15 per cent in the first quarter of this year. A feature of the shift in consumer behaviour toward online delivery is the grocery home delivery business: four out of every five customers buying groceries on the Grab app are crossovers from prepared food delivery. Strength in diversity Still, despite the promise, Grab is in its early days and investors are jumpy, moving away from high-growth companies that are susceptible to being clobbered by rising interest rates. Grab’s share price stood at $16.37 on 12 November and at close of trading on 5 July was down to $2.71. Not only is the interest rate environment worrying but the industry itself is highly competitive and smaller players are going to the wall. Some entered the industry’s door during the pandemic, only to discover that it was revolving – particularly companies that had only one business, like food delivery. It is this kind of environment, however, in which the synergies amongst a superapp’s various businesses give it an advantage. The opportunities for marketing, financial services, and deliveries are each enhanced by the existence of the other segments. Moreover, the merchants on Grab’s platforms can be supported through tough times with the company’s microlending program. Being a superapp is a tough gig, but it positions Grab better than most to take the opportunities Southeast Asia has to offer.