Nasdaq listed, Grab Holdings Limited recorded a loss of $1.1 billion which included $311 million non-cash interest expense related to its convertible redeemable preference shares that ceased upon public listing and $328 million related to one-time public listing related expenses, of which $290 million is non-cash.
Grab added the decline was a result of the increased investments in incentives and strategic investments in areas such as tech and financial services, including the digibank as it prepares for its launch in Singapore.
“2021 was our strongest year yet, even as we faced tougher conditions with the Delta and Omicron variants. We achieved outsized growth in both GMV and Revenues while continuing to improve our Adjusted EBITDA margins year over year, demonstrating the resilience and growing relevance of the superapp,” said Anthony Tan, Group CEO and co-founder of Grab.
GMV grew by 29% YoY to reach $16.1 billion, marking a record year for Grab. This exceeded the upper end of the outlook provided in September 2021. Average Monthly Transacting Users (“MTUs”) for 2021 were 24.1 million, 2% lower YoY primarily due to severe lockdowns in Q3. However, Grab ended the year with 27.7 million MTUs in December 2021, higher than any other month in 2021 and reflecting strong bounce-back as movement restrictions eased.
Average spend per user, defined as GMV per MTU, increased by 31% YoY to $666. Deliveries and financial services outperformed expectations with 56% YoY growth in GMV and 37% YoY growth in Pre-Interco TPV respectively. This more than offset the 14% YoY drop in mobility GMV as the emergence of new variants slowed recovery.
Revenue increased by 44% YoY to $675 million off the back of strong growth in deliveries and financial services. Grab’s reported revenue is net of consumer, merchant and driver-partner incentives.
Loss for 2021 was $3.6 billion, which includes $1.6 billion non-cash interest expense related to Grab’s convertible redeemable preference shares that ceased upon Grab’s public listing and $353 million in one-time public listing related expenses.
Looking beyond 2022, Grab is progressing towards core food delivery Segment Adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the first half of 2023 and deliveries Segment Adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the end of 2023. In the long term, the superapp is targeting steady-state Adjusted EBITDA to GMV margins of 12% in mobility and 3% in deliveries.
