Uber Confirms to Continue to be Aggressive in Reaching Southeast Asian Market

CEO Uber Dara Khosrowshahi plans aggressive steps to win the Southeast Asian market. There was news that Uber's operations in Southeast Asia would be acquired by Grab, because the two companies are now both invested by SoftBank. SoftBank's shareholding in Uber itself reaches 15%. The news of the annexation was dismissed by Dara when she visited India, one of the big markets for Uber.

Dara emphasized that Uber will continue to operate independently in the Southeast Asian market. Steps that Uber will take in Southeast Asia in the near future include investing more in marketing and subsidizing service promotions.

Market growth for services on-demand in Southeast Asia is a strong foundation for Uber to continue to invest in this market. Dara believes that her steps in Southeast Asia will lead to the development of Uber's business. Quoted from Reuters, Dara claims that Uber's user growth forecast in the next decade will reach 80 percent organically.

Apart from Southeast Asia, Uber will also continue to make aggressive moves in India. In this market Uber is in a tight competition with Ola, both of whom are invested by SoftBank. Dara reiterated that even though SoftBank is an investor, Uber will stick to the final decision made by the company's executives. It is certain that Uber's operations will not be disrupted in India, even though it has to compete with other SoftBank portfolios.

Currently Uber's valuation alone has reached around $68 billion, but not all of its business bases have been profitable. For example, in India, according to Dara, the market already accounts for 10 percent of Uber's rides globally, but has not yet made any money for the company. Dara emphasized that currently the greatest value that can be created is to continue to invest and develop the business as widely as possible.

Adjustment to regulations in each country is also becoming Uber's main focus after many rejections and restrictions were deemed to "disrupt" the existing transportation order. This normative effort continues to be carried out by the players on-demand, including in Indonesia.