GRAB Holdings Inc (Grab), Southeast Asia's leading super app, announced February 4 the acquisition of Bento Invest Pte Ltd (Bento), a Singapore-based roboadvisory start-up for an undisclosed sum, that will allow Grab to offer retail wealth management solutions to users, driver-partners and merchant-partners, via the Grab app.

With the acquisition, Bento will be rebranded as GrabInvest with products launched on the Grab app in the first half of the year in Singapore under Grab’s financial services arm, Grab Financial Group, led by Chandrima Das, founder and CEO of Bento.

Grab Financial Group currently offers financial services across Southeast Asia in payments, rewards, lending, and insurance to microentrepreneurs, small business owners, driver-partners and users.

The new business arm aims to democratise access to retail wealth management products, in order to provide millions across Southeast Asia with the opportunity to save and invest in financial products traditionally limited to affluent individuals and institutional investors.

Wealth management services will be made accessible by adopting a low-cost model that is easy to understand by allowing users to transact on a platform they are familiar with, that is transparent by having full disclosures on fees with no hidden elements.

In Southeast Asia, there is a lack of access to affordable wealth management products and retirement planning solutions for most people. As the region faces an increasingly volatile and uncertain economic environment, it is imperative for Southeast Asians to acquire the tools and knowledge to protect their future by sustainably building wealth for themselves and their families, says Reuben Lai, senior managing director of Grab Financial Group.

GrabInvest will operate under a retail wealth management capital markets services license in Singapore, namely the MAS Retail Licensed Fund Management Company (LFMC) license.