Grab is described by Wikipedia as Southeast Asia’s first decacorn. A decacorn is a privately held startup valued at more than US$10 billion, so the label marked Grab’s exceptional scale among companies founded in the region.
The company began in 2012 as MyTeksi in Kuala Lumpur. Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling created it to make taxi rides safer and more dependable in Malaysia. The service expanded across Southeast Asia, adopted the Grab name in 2016, and grew beyond ride-hailing into food delivery, payments, parcels, groceries, and other services.
The “first decacorn” wording is easy to confuse with “unicorn.” A unicorn has a valuation above US$1 billion; a decacorn passes US$10 billion. Grab later became a public company on Nasdaq in 2021 after combining with Altimeter Growth Corp. in a major special-purpose acquisition company merger. Gojek is a major regional rival, while Careem and Ola are prominent ride-hailing companies from other markets.