Uber Technologies Inc’s chief executive pledged to continue investing aggressively in Southeast Asia even though the US ride hailing firm expects to lose money in the fast growing market due to costly battles with rivals such as Grab. SoftBank’s 15 percent stake purchase in Uber last month has opened up the possibility of combining Uber with other ride-hailing assets the Japanese group owns across Asia. SoftBank has stakes in Singapore-based Grab and India’s Ola.
At the time of the investment, SoftBank said it wants Uber to focus on growing in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia – not Asia, which has been among the most costly and competitive regions for the ride-services firm, a source had told Reuters.