Reports suggest that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba could participate in the next funding round for Grab, a ride hailing start up based out of Singapore. Grab is Uber’s major competitor in Southeast Asia and Alibaba’s Alipay platform is already part of the Grab app. A stake in the latter will cement Alibaba’s relationship with Grab giving it a stronger holding in the ride sharing segment. A stake in a ride hailing company can give Alibaba exposure to this growing segment and help the company diversify its business. A stake in the ride hailing company can further this partnership and allow Alibaba to tap into the growing Southeast Asian internet economy.

Source: Forbes June 23, 2017 17:37 UTC