This story is part of Forbes' coverage of Singapore’s Richest 2021. See the full list here.
Anthony Tan—cofounder of ride-hailing super app Grab—joins Singapore’s growing list of wealthy technopreneurs whose fortunes have swelled in the past year as the pandemic boosted food deliveries, online shopping and mobile payments.
Grab’s pending U.S. backdoor listing through a merger with Altimeter Growth’s SPAC values the Singapore-headquartered company at nearly $40 billion, cementing the No. 47 spot for Tan, 39, with a net worth of $790 million. Tan, a Singapore citizen and resident, was previously ranked among Malaysia’s richest, where he initially set up Grab in 2012.
Since then, Grab has drawn blue-chip investors such as Microsoft and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank. The planned merger with Altimeter—delayed to the fourth quarter from July as Grab finalizes an audit of its accounts—is said to be the world’s largest-ever SPAC acquisition.
Grab is expected to raise $4 billion from this listing, which will give global investors exposure to Southeast Asia’s booming digital economy. According to a November report by Bain, Google and Temasek, the region’s digital economy is expected to triple to $300 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025.
Meanwhile, Grab has partnered with Singtel to launch a digital bank in the city-state by early next year. The duo is also seeking a digital bank license across the causeway in Malaysia.
