The Southeast Asian ride-hailing company founded in 2012 is Grab. It began in Malaysia under the name MyTeksi, created by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling to make taxi rides safer and easier to book.
The original service connected passengers with licensed taxi drivers through a mobile application. It expanded beyond Malaysia during its first years, entering markets such as the Philippines and Thailand in 2013. The brand later became GrabTaxi and then Grab as the company broadened its services and regional ambitions.
Grab is now better understood as a “superapp” than simply a taxi platform. Its offerings have expanded to include private-car rides, food delivery, digital payments, financial services, and other tools for consumers and merchants. A frequent mix-up is confusing Grab’s founding with its later rebrand: the company’s original MyTeksi service dates to 2012, while the Grab name became central later. In 2018, Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asian operations.