Fintech Push Takes the Front Seat as Grab Begins 2025 in the Green

Grab Holdings Limited began 2025 with a solid first-quarter performance, reflecting continued progress and gaining respectable profit in its long-term transformation strategy. 

With rising revenues, a return to profitability, and steady growth across key business segments, Grab, arguably one of Southeast Asia’s superapps, is showing signs of operational maturity and financial discipline. 

According to their First Quarter 2025 Results, in the first three months of 2025, Grab recorded an 18% year-on-year revenue increase, bringing in SGD $773 million. This comes despite the traditionally quieter demand seen during Lunar New Year and Ramadan.

Even more notably, the company posted a net profit of SGD $10 million, a significant turnaround from the SGD $115 million loss a year earlier. That’s a SGD $125 million improvement, thanks in large part to stronger revenue and favourable foreign exchange gains totalling SGD $33 million.

Adjusted EBITDA hit SGD $106 million, up SGD $44 million year-on-year. This marks Grab’s thirteenth straight quarter of adjusted EBITDA growth, showing a clear trajectory towards sustainable and efficient scale.

More Users, More Orders and More Momentum

Grab’s On-Demand services, comprising Deliveries and Mobility, remain at the heart of its growth engine. 

On-Demand Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) rose 16% from the same period in 2024, hitting SGD $4.9 billion. Monthly transacting users increased by 18%, and transactions were up by 21%, showing that Grab’s platform continues to gain traction across Southeast Asia.

Total incentives came in at SGD $501 million. As a percentage of On-Demand GMV, that’s 10.1%, slightly up from 9.7% the year before. These targeted incentives are part of Grab’s continued push to attract and retain users while launching new products and services.

Lending, Deposits and Digital Banking Continue to Surge

Grab’s Financial Services arm, including GrabFin and its digital banks, saw revenue rise by a hefty 36% to SGD $75 million. Lending volumes played a key role, with total loans disbursed growing by 30% year-on-year to SGD $630 million. The total loan portfolio outstanding hit SGD $566 million, up 56% from Q1 2024.

Digital banking deposits also gave Grab a huge profit in 2025. Customers in GXS Bank (Singapore) and GX Bank (Malaysia) parked SGD $1.43 billion with Grab, compared to SGD $479 million a year ago. That’s a massive jump and underscores the strength of Grab’s ecosystem-led banking strategy.

However, investment continues in this segment. Financial Services recorded a segment adjusted EBITDA loss of SGD $30 million, slightly higher than the previous year due to increased credit provisioning. Despite this, Grab maintains that its non-performing loans remain comfortably within its risk appetite.

Cash flow remained a bright spot.

Grab reported SGD $73 million in net cash from operating activities in the first quarter, improving by SGD $84 million from the same period in 2024. On a trailing twelve-month basis, operating cash flow reached SGD $936 million, with adjusted free cash flow totalling SGD $157 million.

Grab closed the quarter with SGD $6.2 billion in cash liquidity and SGD $5.9 billion in net cash liquidity, giving the company plenty of financial breathing room. The share buyback programme is still in play too, with SGD $274 million of authorised funds left to be deployed.

Deliveries Keep Cooking Despite the Slow Season

The Deliveries segment delivered another solid performance, with revenue up 18% to SGD $415 million and GMV reaching SGD $3.13 billion.

What’s particularly striking is that this growth came during a seasonally slow quarter.

GrabMart, the company’s grocery and essentials delivery arm, saw faster growth than the overall segment, benefiting from a Ramadan-driven trend towards home cooking.

Advertising played an increasingly important role. Ad revenue grew as a share of Deliveries GMV, rising to 1.7% from 1.3% the year before. Monthly active advertisers using Grab’s self-serve platform jumped 49%, and their average spend rose by 30%.

This contributed to a 2.0% segment adjusted EBITDA margin, up from 1.6% in Q1 2024.

Ride-Hailing Ramps Up with Tech and Taxis

Ride-hailing also continued its steady climb in reflecting the profit Grab has had in 2025. Mobility GMV rose 17% to SGD $1.8 billion, with monthly transacting users increasing by 20% and ride volume growing by 25%. Segment revenue followed suit, up 15% year-on-year.

Grab has been investing in its driver network to meet rising demand. Monthly active drivers grew 18% compared to the same period last year and 4% quarter-on-quarter. Meanwhile, the percentage of surge rides increased while those impacted by supply shortages dropped by 10 points, reflecting improved marketplace balance.

Driver retention still remains high at 90%.

A notable milestone came in Singapore, where Grab’s rental arm, GrabCab, received a street-hail operator licence. This move will expand Grab’s presence in the conventional taxi space and enable the launch of a green fleet of hybrid and electric vehicles.

On the innovation front, Grab has also teamed up with four autonomous driving firms (Autonomous A2Z, Motional, WeRide and Zelos) to explore the use of self-driving vehicles across Southeast Asia’s roads.

A Company Moving Beyond Growth for Growth’s Sake

Grab has revised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance upward to between SGD $460 million and SGD $480 million, signalling confidence in continued profitability. Management expects strong sequential growth in On-Demand GMV and overall revenue for Q2, all while keeping a tight grip on costs.

Group CEO Anthony Tan highlighted the role of AI and technology in making services more reliable and affordable, positioning Grab as a “counter-cyclical” company capable of thriving through economic uncertainty.

The first quarter profit performance for 2025 marks an inflexion point for Grab.

No longer just chasing growth, the company is now demonstrating it can grow responsibly, profitably, and with purpose. Its diversification across ride-hailing, deliveries, and financial services is starting to pay off, and its operational discipline is evident in both margin gains and user expansion.

With one foot firmly planted in today’s superapp economy and another reaching towards autonomous tech and digital banking, Grab is carving out a leading role in Southeast Asia’s digital future, and doing it on its own terms.

Featured image: Edited from Grab.