Grab is reportedly in talks to acquire a majority stake in Singapore-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform Atome Financial. According to Blomberg, people familiar claim that the potential transaction could value the deal at more than US$2 billion (RM8.13 billion), while discussions are still ongoing and no final decision has been made.
For those who are unfamiliar, Atome is a digital consumer financing service operated under Atome Financial and is one of Southeast Asia’s digital consumer financing platforms. The name is short for “Available to Me”, with the service allowing customers to split purchases into instalments when shopping at participating online and physical retailers.
The service is available across the region and has also expanded its cross-border capabilities. Atome Financial is owned by Advance Intelligence Group, a Singapore-based technology company that has investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus.
The potential acquisition would further strengthen Grab’s presence in financial services, an area that has become an increasingly important part of its broader superapp strategy. The company has also been pursuing acquisitions to accelerate its expansion. In February, Grab announced the acquisition of US-based digital investing platform Stash Financial at an enterprise value of US$425 million, while in March it announced a US$600 million deal to acquire Delivery Hero’s foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan.
Atome could therefore give Grab another established consumer-financing platform and potentially broaden its reach beyond the financial products already available through its own ecosystem. Meanwhile, Grab itself already offers PayLater in Malaysia, allowing eligible customers to pay for purchases the following month or through four monthly instalments.
For now, however, the reported Grab-Atome transaction remains unconfirmed, and there is no indication yet of the stake that could ultimately change hands or the terms of any potential deal. Representatives for Grab, Atome Financial and its parent company Advance Intelligence Group declined to comment to Bloomberg regarding the matter.
(Source: Bloomberg)