How AWS Cloud Helps Superapp Grab to Turbocharge Innovation
Southeast Asia's financial technology sector has undergone significant transformation since 2015, as traditional banking services continue to merge with digital platforms. The region’s complex regulatory environment – which spans multiple jurisdictions with varying levels of financial inclusion – has created opportunities for technology firms to enter the banking sector: particularly in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia where regulators have introduced digital banking licenses to increase competition in the financial services sector.
The integration of financial services into existing technology platforms requires substantial computing infrastructure to manage transactions, maintain security and process data across multiple countries.
- 41.9m monthly transacting users across Grab's platform
- 200 terabytes of data processed daily - equivalent to 200,000 full-length films
- Nearly 1m customers acquired by GX Bank Malaysia in first year of operations
These market conditions have led to increased competition between cloud service providers, who aim to support the region’s expanding digital economy. The selection of cloud infrastructure has become a critical decision for technology firms operating across Southeast Asia, particularly those handling financial data and transactions.
Grab selects AWS as cloud provider to support regional growth
Grab, a Singapore-based technology firm providing ride-hailing, food delivery and financial services across Southeast Asia, has announced that it has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud provider. The move allows Grab to accelerate innovation, improve operational efficiency and support its expansion into digital banking across its eight-country footprint: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
As a superapp serving 41.9 million monthly transacting users and over 13 million registered drivers and delivery partners, Grab processes a staggering volume of data every second. AWS powers the critical compute, storage, networking and database functions that enable Grab to rapidly launch new services and scale efficiently.
“At Grab, our strategy for growth is anchored on constant innovation to outserve the needs of our users and partners,” says Suthen Thomas Paradatheth, CTO of Grab. “This requires rapid experimentation, while ensuring security and stability, along with the ability to fully harness the potential of the latest tech like generative AI (Gen AI). We’re pleased to extend our partnership with AWS as our preferred cloud partner to continue to support us on this journey.”
Optimising costs and driving efficiency with AWS cloud solutions
By adopting AWS’s suite of cloud-based solutions, Grab has gained agility and reduced operational costs. The superapp uses AWS analytics service Clean Rooms for secure, privacy-preserving data collaboration. Grab has also migrated over 400 backend application services from traditional virtual servers to AWS Graviton2 processors to drive high performance and cost efficiency.
Grab relies on Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) as its transactional database coupled with Amazon DynamoDB to ensure high availability, scalability and adaptability of its platform. This enables Grab to drive exceptional customer experiences fueled by more accurate searchable data.
Scaling securely and reliably to meet surging demand
With on-demand transactions up 22% in the third quarter of 2024, Grab relies on AWS to seamlessly adapt to evolving customer needs. This includes scaling features like the revamped Advance Booking and improved Group Order, as well as building digital banks in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
As a result of its partnership with AWS, Grab was able to build and launch GX Bank in Malaysia in under 16 months, scaling rapidly to serve close to one million customers within the first year of launch. AWS’s cloud infrastructure enables Grab to easily adjust resources dynamically based on user demand, accommodating increased traffic during peak times like holiday sales while scaling down resources during off-peak periods to save costs.
Accelerating AI-powered growth and personalisation
As one of the pioneers of AI adoption in Southeast Asia, Grab is committed to exploring how the latest AI technologies can better serve users and partners. Grab’s machine learning model platform Catwalk – built on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) – has deployed over 1,000 AI models in production to power personalised experiences like tailored restaurant recommendations, loyalty rewards and bespoke financial services based on users’ preferences.
AWS is proud to support Grab in its mission to drive innovation and enhance customer experiences across Southeast Asia.
Grab stores hundreds of petabytes of data and processes over 200 TB daily on AWS, equivalent to 200,000 full-length movies. This data fuels Grab's advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI initiatives. The superapp uses AWS's custom-designed Inferentia chips with specialised machine learning inference capabilities to cost-efficiently power its AI-powered services, including map enhancements and fraud detection in its digital banks.
“AWS is proud to support Grab in its mission to drive innovation and enhance customer experiences across Southeast Asia,” says Jeff Johnson, Managing Director, ASEAN at AWS. “As the leading cloud provider, AWS is uniquely positioned to help Grab optimize its price performance, boost operational efficiency and continually evolve its broad suite of data-powered services. We’re excited to continue collaborating with Grab as it navigates the dynamic landscape of ecommerce and superapp development, ensuring it stays at the forefront of innovation in the digital economy.”
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