Grab has signed an agreement to acquire Kudo, an Indonesian e-commerce platform. This transaction will expand Grab’s payments ecosystem to support growth in online consumer spending in Indonesia.

Upon closing, the Kudo team will join Grab and the Kudo platform will be integrated with Grab’s existing payments system. Grab will use Kudo’s reach to bring more riders, drivers and GrabPay users onto the Grab platform.

Grab and Kudo also plan to explore opportunities to grow Kudo’s financial services offering, including insurance and consumer loans.

This transaction marks Grab's first investment of its ‘Grab 4 Indonesia’ plan to finance companies focused on deepening financial inclusion across all cities and income levels in Indonesia.

Grab has also appointed Jason Thompson, a payments industry veteran, as head of GrabPay. Based in Singapore, Jason will oversee the development of new payments technologies that will deepen financial inclusion and increase access to mobile payments services across Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining Grab, Jason was the managing director EMEA & Asia for Euronet. In this role, he led Euronet’s electronic payments subsidiaries in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, developing Euronet’s e-pay services to a full-service provider in the company’s key product verticals. Jason has more than 15 years of experience in leadership roles, including senior positions at companies such as Microsoft and Canon.

Photo courtesy of Grab.