Grab to lean on scale, AI to navigate rising fuel costs, CEO says

Grab to lean on scale, AI to navigate rising fuel costs, CEO says



Southeast Asia’s top ride-hailing and delivery firm Grab believes artificial intelligence-led products and services will help it drive growth and navigate challenges such as affordability and rising fuel costs in the wake of the war in Iran, company ‌CEO Anthony Tan told ⁠Reuters.

The ⁠Singapore-based company earlier this year expanded outside Southeast Asia for the first time when it purchased Delivery Hero‘s Foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan.

But it forecast fiscal 2026 revenue below Wall Street expectations, signaling slower momentum in its core businesses of ride hailing and deliveries as consumers were grappling with economic uncertainty even before the Iran war.

“Call us maybe bold, but we just have a lot of belief in our AI-led product strategy and it’s paying off. We’ve seen it in our results and we ⁠continue to ‌see it grow,” Tan said in an interview with Reuters after a company event in Jakarta to launch new products.

“The reality is that the fuel cost situation is ⁠real for everyone. How do companies like us translate that into a way of how to be even more conscious of our customers’ wallets?” he added.

Even as Grab announced in February its first-ever full-year net profit, 14 years after it was founded, the Nasdaq-listed company’s forecasts for 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA fell short of Wall Street estimates. Its share price has slumped nearly 30% so far this year.