Uber-rival Grab snatches Kudo to power up payments

South-East Asian Uber-rival Grab is boosting its payments powers with the acquisition of e-commerce and payments service Kudo.

The company will reportedly pay between $80m and $100m in a mixture of cash and equity for the Jakarta-based business.

The deal is the first move by Singapore-based Grab in its pledge to invest $700m into its efforts in the Indonesian market.

Grab established its payments platform GrabPay last year to extend its reach in the region with the company also unveiling plans for an Indian R&D centre dedicated to payments technology.

Kudo aims to allow people without access to a credit card or bank account to make purchases online through the assistant of an agent. Its platform will be integrated into GrabPay with its team also coming aboard.

The startup had raised two undisclosed funding rounds form investors including 500 Startups and East Ventures.

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