Uber's rival Grab to acquire Indonesian payment startup Kudo

Uber’s arch rival in Southeast Asia, Grab is acquiring  Indonesian online payment startup, Kudo, to bolster its mobile payments platform.

Though neither party has disclosed the value of the deal, Reuters in February reported Grab's plan to buy Kudo for over $100 million, citing a person close to the matter.

“The Kudo team will join Grab, and the Kudo platform will be integrated with Grab’s existing payments ecosystem. Grab will also support and accelerate the expansion of Kudo’s agent network across Indonesia, and leverage Kudo’s reach to bring more riders, and drivers and GrabPay users onto the Grab platform,” Grab said in a statement.

The deal that marks Grab's first investment under a recently announced plan to commit $700 million to its largest market is also South-east Asian ride-hailing company's first major acquisition after Chinese ride-sharing startup Youche that it acquired back in 2013.

Grab began working on a payments platform, GrabPay last July, with an initial focus on Indonesia. Grab believes that offering digital payment services can give it a stronger foothold in Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing market.

Three-year-old Kudo helped consumers with no bank accounts and based in small towns and cities make online payments through its agents. Kudo in the statement said the acquisition created immediate synergies with its existing business. The firm claims to have 400,000 agents across 500 towns in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Grab said it has hired Jason Thompson, formerly Managing Director EMEA & Asia for Euronet Worldwide Inc, as head of GrabPay to be based in Singapore.