Grab will also seek to invest aggressively, with a commitment to make at least six investments or acquisitions across the region this year. Underpinning Grab’s growth is the backing of SoftBank and other key strategic investors who have invested over $4.5 billion in Grab’s current Series H round.

Last month, Grab secured a $1.46-billion investment from SoftBank Vision Fund. Grab’s partnership with SoftBank runs deep, and the two companies have been working together since 2014.

“I met Masayoshi-san last week where he gave his unlimited support to power our growth,” Anthony Tan, Grab’s co-founder and CEO, said yesterday.

He added that support from strategic investors like SoftBank and others will allow the company to grow very aggressively this year across the verticals of payments, transport and food. At its current growth rates, the company expects to be four times bigger than its closest competitor in Indonesia and across the region by the end of the year, as the company aims to emerge as the leading super app in Southeast Asia.

“We see massive opportunities to expand our business and continue to serve its customers, driver-partners and merchants across Southeast Asia,” Tan said.

Grab president Ming Maa shared details of the business outlook. “In line with the tremendous transformation that Southeast Asia is currently undergoing, the opportunity is ripe for us to further grow in domains like healthcare [and] financial services amongst others,” said Maa.

“Amongst other key markets, Indonesia in particular will see us invest a significant portion of fresh proceeds, where we are on track to be four times larger than our nearest competitor and remain the leader in on-demand transport,” he added.

Grab’s Indonesian business is expanding rapidly, with revenue more than doubling in 2018. Grab has 62 per cent of Indonesia’s ride-hailing market, according to ABI Research.

GrabFood is growing rapidly in Indonesia, operating in 178 Indonesian cities from 13 at the start of last year, with delivery volumes growing almost 10 times in 2018.

The past year has seen a significant expansion of the Grab ecosystem through partnerships with global industry leaders such as Toyota, Hyundai, Microsoft and Mastercard.

Grab also inked partnerships with regional industry leaders like Thailand’s Central Group and Kasikornbank, Indonesia’s OVO, Bank BTN and Bank Mandiri, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank, Philippines’ SM Investment Corporation, Vietnam’s Moca and Malaysia’s Maybank, amongst others.

Responding to the trend among the new generation of coffee lovers to drink black and iced coffee, the new variant is Thailand’s first café-style zero-sugar black coffee mix, offering the full taste and aroma of finely ground roasted Arabica coffee with no sweetness and only five calories.

Certified with the “Healthier Choice Logo, it’s a cold soluble coffee that is easy to prepare and great when served either iced or hot, according to the maker.

Nescafé Americano has also introduced Thanapob “Tor” Leeratanakajorn as its brand ambassador to reinforce the brand as the “coolest black drink for the new generation”.

The Thai bcoffee-mix market, valued at Bt16.2 billion, grew 5.1 per cent last year.

Nescafé established the two-in-one category when it launched Nescafé Americano in March last year.

It has been tremendously successful, receiving great feedback from the new generation of coffee drinkers, with 71 per cent of Nescafé Americano consumers aged 20 to 39, the company said.

The Americano and black coffee trend is also showing strong growth in other models.

At NESCAFÉ HUB@Chidlom, Iced Americano is the second best-selling beverage, while Nitro Americano is in fourth place.

For Nescafé Dolce Gusto, black coffee is the best-selling beverage with growth of over 31 per cent.

Victor Seah, chairman and chief executive officer of Nestlé Indochina, said on Tuesday: “Following the great response to Nescafé Americano, I am pleased that we are celebrating the launch of new Nescafé Americano Zero Sugar. It’s the coolest black drink with no sugar that meets Thai coffee lovers’ evolving preference for healthier black coffee … This product innovation is our latest SKU to be certified with the Healthier Choice Logo.

“It strengthens Nestlé’s position as the leading food and beverage company, with 48 SKUs certified with the Healthier Choice Logo, the highest number for any company in our category.”

Naritta Vipulyasekha, business manager – Nescafé Coffee Mixes; Nestlé (Thai), said: “Innovative new Nescafé Americano Zero Sugar is the result of our understanding the changing needs of the new generation of coffee drinkers who want a healthier choice for black and iced coffee. Based on our social listening, we discovered that there is consumer demand for Americano coffee that is not sweet and does not contain any sugar.”

Brand ambassador “Tor” Thanapob will convey the product concept of Nescafé Americano through a new commercial entitled “Cool You Down,” which airs from today on leading TV stations and digital platforms.

Citing the annual report for 2018, Zhu told a press conference yesterday Huawei enjoyed 15.1 per cent year-on-year growth in the Asia Pacific region last year, resulting in the revenue of nearly US$12 billion.

“We do not have any concern over the potential impacts of the backwind from the US. So far, our business in Myanmar as well as in the region is growing well, even higher than the past few years,” he said.

“We have not witnessed any single sign of negative impacts in our business yet. Many of our corporate clients in Myanmar as well as in the region are so professional that they are wise enough to see the truth, when it comes to cyber security of Huawei products and solutions.”

Zhu said the trend would go on, as their clients from both public and private sectors continue to believe in Huawei’s offerings.

“The major difference between Myanmar and other Asean countries is that this country has a big population, and enjoyed very rapid economic growth over the past few years, when compared to others in the region,” he said.

“Myanmar enjoyed significant growth in the ICT industry in the past few years. Mobile penetration in Myanmar is currently around 100 per cent of the population, but only 20 per cent have access to 4G services. Broadband services account for only one per cent of the population so there is much room for improvement.”

He said both Myanmar and regional markets could not be interfered in by the US, provided that the demand for better, safer technology is on the rise in Asia Pacific.

“We do not mind being banned from the US market. But, they are trying to persuade other countries not to use Huawei’s offerings. It is a big problem for us,” he said.

“We still enjoy very good performance, and a stable growth. Millions of customers from most of the countries around the world still choose to trust us, and give us a lot of support. So, we believe this influence [by the US] will be smaller and smaller.”

Zhu said Huawei could maintain its healthy growth in Myanmar last year, like in other Asean countries. Its consumer business grew by 36 per cent, with more than 1 million smart devices sold in Myanmar. Enterprise and cloud business achieved many breakthroughs, and Huawei worked with KBZ bank to launch mobile money services which have served nearly 2 million users so far.

“Since 2018, when Huawei Cloud was introduced to Myanmar, many local enterprises across the industry are able to rapidly and efficiently deploy IT system and services,” he said.

“We will bring more products and solutions to Myanmar, on a par with other Asean countries. No one can stop Huawei, and we will be growing further locally, regionally and globally.”