Grab bets $1.49B on Atome to scale Southeast Asia financial services

Grab is spending $1.49 billion to acquire a controlling stake in Atome Financial, a Singapore-based buy-now, pay-later platform, as the ride-hailing and delivery company pushes deeper into consumer lending across Southeast Asia. The deal structure splits the purchase into two phases: Grab will initially buy 60% of Atome for the full $1.49 billion in cash, then acquire the remaining 40% roughly two years later. This staged approach was designed partly to manage capital risk, according to Peter Oey, Grab's chief financial officer.

The market reacted coolly to the announcement. Grab's stock fell 3.64% on Nasdaq following the news, a signal that some investors questioned the timing or valuation of the move. Yet Oey framed the acquisition as a natural extension of Grab's financial services ambitions. The company already operates lending products, but Atome opens doors to customer segments and merchant categories where Grab's reach remains thin—particularly in travel, beauty, and e-commerce. Those partnerships give Atome a foothold that Grab would otherwise need years to build from scratch.

The timing of the deal's closing matters. The transaction is expected to wrap up sometime in 2027, which means Atome's financial contribution will be modest in the latter months of that year but more substantial starting in 2028. Grab has set a specific target for its financial services division: $500 million in adjusted EBITDA by 2028. The company is betting that Atome's existing revenue streams and customer base will help it hit that number.

Oey told CNBC that the deal would be accretive to Grab's business and contributed to the company raising its 2028 outlook. He emphasized that the acquisition represents a step forward in Grab's financial services capabilities, though he stopped short of detailing exactly how the two companies' operations would merge or what specific synergies management expected to unlock. The two-year gap between the initial purchase and the full acquisition gives both companies time to explore those possibilities without forcing immediate integration decisions.

Grab plans to keep Atome's existing management team in place, a move that suggests the company values the platform's current leadership and operational know-how. Beyond Atome, Oey flagged micro-investing as another potential growth area in Southeast Asia, though he offered no concrete plans. He also noted that Grab sees an opportunity to work with regulators on expanding access to fair credit across the region—a longer-term play that positions the company as a partner in financial inclusion rather than simply a profit-seeking lender. The deal closes the door on one chapter of Atome's independence while opening questions about how deeply Grab will integrate the platform into its broader financial services ecosystem.