Grab on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Bento Invest, a Singapore-based Robo-advisory start-up for an undisclosed sum. It allows Grab to kickstart the offering of retail wealth management solutions to users, driver-partners, and merchant-partners via its 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. GrabInvest will be a new core business vertical under Grab’s financial services arm, Grab Financial Group, led by Chandrima Das, founder, and chief executive of Bento.
«In Southeast Asia, there is a lack of access to affordable wealth management products and retirement planning solutions for most people. As we face 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,» said Reuben Lai, Senior Managing Director of Grab Financial Group in a media statement.
Bento’s proprietary digital wealth platform includes client onboarding, and portfolio construction and rebalancing supported by robust risk management capabilities. The platform is built and backed by a team of seasoned asset management and banking professionals who will join the GrabInvest team. Bento’s founder, Chandrima Das, has over two decades of leadership experience in banks and asset managers across Asia and the U.K. She was formerly Managing Director at Bank of Singapore and prior to that, CEO of ING Investment Management.
GrabInvest will operate under a retail wealth management capital markets services license in Singapore, namely the MAS Retail Licensed Fund Management Company (LFMC) license. It hopes to offer cash management and portfolio-based financial solutions to its users, driver-partners, and merchant-partners, with Singapore as the first market to roll-out.
GrabInvest said its aim is to democratize access to retail wealth management products, by providing people in Southeast Asia with the opportunity to save and invest in financial products traditionally limited to affluent individuals and institutional investors. GrabInvest aims to make wealth management services accessible by adopting a low-cost model, easy to understand by allowing users to transact on a platform they are familiar with, transparent by having full disclosures on fees with zero hidden elements, and trusted by adhering to consumer protection standards outlined by the regulators.
Grab Financial Group currently offers financial services across Southeast Asia in payments (GrabPay), rewards (GrabRewards), lending (GrabFinance), and insurance (GrabInsure) to micro-entrepreneurs, small business owners, driver-partners and users across Southeast Asia.